![Norman Rockwell - Freedom from Want [1943]](http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2921/14334024732_abfacfa0d7_o.jpg)
Freedom from Want was created in November 1942 and published in the March 6, 1943 issue of The saturday Evening Post. All of the people in the picture were friends and family of Rockwell, who were photographed individually and painted into the scene. The work depicts a group of people gathered around a dinner table for a holiday meal. It has become an iconic representation of the Thanksgiving holiday. On Thanksgiving 1942, the turkey was painted and the woman serving it was photographed.
The painting was used as the 1946 book cover for Norman Rockwell, Illustrator, written when Rockwell was "at the height of his fame as America's most popular illustrator." Although the image was popular at the time in the United States and remains so, it caused resentment in Europe where the masses were enduring hardship at the time. Artistically, the work is highly regarded as an example of mastery of the challenges of white-on-white painting.
[Norman Rockwell Museum, Stockbridge - Oil on canvas, 116.2 x 90 cm]