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Four
Freedoms

The Four Freedoms is a series of four 1943 oil paintings by the American artist Norman Rockwell. The four freedoms refer to President Franklin D. Roosevelt's January 1941 Four Freedoms State of the Union address in which he identified essential human rights that should be universally protected.

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Modern Freedom of Speech

Freedom of Speech

Freedom of Speech is the first of the Four Freedoms paintings by Norman Rockwell that were inspired by United States President Franklin D. Roosevelt's State of the Union Address, known as Four Freedoms, which he delivered on January 6, 1941.

Freedom of Speech was published in the February 20, 1943 Issue of The Saturday Evening Post with a matching essay by Booth Tarkington as part of the Four Freedoms series. Rockwell felt that this and Freedom of Worship were the most successful of the set. Since Rockwell liked to depict life as he experienced it or envisioned it, it is not surprising that this image depicts an actual occurrence.

Modern Freedom of Worship

Freedom of Worship

Freedom of Worship is the second of a series of four oil paintings by Norman Rockwell entitled Four Freedoms. Of the Four Freedoms, the only two described in the United States Constitution are freedom of speech and freedom of religion.

The Four Freedoms' theme was later incorporated into the Allies' World War II policy statement, the Atlantic Charter, and became part of the charter of the United Nations. The series of paintings ran on four consecutive weeks in The Saturday Evening Post, accompanied by essays from noted writers: Freedom of Speech (February 20), Freedom of Worship (February 27), Freedom from Want (March 6) and Freedom from Fear (March 13).

Modern Freedom of Worship
Modern Freedom from Want

Freedom from Want

Freedom from Want, also known as The Thanksgiving Picture or I'll Be Home for Christmas, is the third of the Four Freedoms series of four oil paintings by American artist Norman Rockwell. The painting 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 in Arlington, Vermont, 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. Having been partially created on Thanksgiving Day to depict the celebration, it has become an iconic representation for Americans of the Thanksgiving holiday and family holiday gatherings in general.

Modern Freedom from Fear

Freedom from Fear

Freedom from Fear is the last of the well-known Four Freedoms oil paintings produced by the American artist Norman Rockwell. This work was published in the March 13, 1943, issue of The Saturday Evening Post alongside an essay by a prominent thinker of the day, Stephen Vincent Benét.

The painting is generally described as depicting American children being tucked into bed by their parents while the Blitz rages across the Atlantic in Great Britain. The Blitz was a period of sustained strategic bombing of the United Kingdom by Germany during the Second World War.

Modern Freedom from Fear
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