Norman Rockwell - The Gossips [1948]

Norman Rockwell - The Gossips [1948], a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

The Gossips is the culmination of Rockwell’s fascination with the subject of gossip - while he had painted works exploring this theme in the past, it was not until his immersion in the Arlington community that the final composition came to fruition. In the present work, Rockwell depicts 15 figures, each portrayed twice, as part of a chain receiving and passing on a tidbit of gossip. The attention he pays to naturalistic detail in these expressive portraits is exceptional, and the artist ultimately conveys a sense of the personality and character of each figure.

[Sold for $8,453,000 at Sotheby’s, New York - Oil on canvas, 83.8 x 78.7 cm]