About the Exhibition

November 22, 2016 through January 29, 2017
at Norman Rockwell Museum

. . .children want to believe in Santa Claus just as fervently as we adults want to believe in Peace on Earth and goodwill toward men. —Norman Rockwell

Many of Rockwell’s depictions of the holidays are inspired by the work of Charles Dickens, which he read as a child with his family. In addition to Christmas covers for The Saturday Evening Post and other periodicals of the day, family gatherings were forever frozen in time in the artist’s many advertisements and Hallmark greeting cards. Norman Rockwell’s Spirit of the Holidays shows how the artist’s paintings and drawings inspired feelings of warmth and good cheer for generations to come.

Image Left: Thanksgiving: Mother and Son Peeling Potatoes, Norman Rockwell. 1945. Cover illustration for The Saturday Evening Post, November 24, 1945 Private collection ©1945 SEPS: Licensed by Curtis Publishing, Indianapolis, IN