Freedom from Want, 1943. Norman Rockwell Museum Collections. ©SEPS: Curtis Licensing, Indianapolis, IN.

For many, Thanksgiving is the quintessential American holiday. It represents a sense of warmth, home, family, and tradition. Nowhere is this more apparent than in Norman Rockwell’s emblematic artwork. Rockwell was a 20th century author, painter, and illustrator whose cover illustrations graced the Saturday Evening Post magazine for nearly fifty years. Rockwell created several Thanksgiving paintings and illustrations, ranging from the heartwarming to the humorous. The most well-known of these is likely Freedom From Want (also known as The Thanksgiving Picture or I’ll Be Home for Christmas), which depicts a grandmother serving her family with a delicious turkey. The painting was inspired by President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s 1941 State of the Union Address and features the artist’s friends and family. An earlier illustration from 1917 titled Cousin Reginald Catches the Thanksgiving Turkey demonstrates Rockwell’s fanciful side, as it shows a turkey chasing a young boy – the hunter becoming the hunted.

Courtesy: FBI

Rockwell’s paintings have stood the test of time. Although in the 1950s there was little demand for these items, their current market value ranges into the millions. The current auction record for a Norman Rockwell is over $46 million; in the past decade alone, four works have fetched more than $10 million each at auction. It should come as no surprise that a recently recovered painting of a slumbering child has a current fair market value of approximately $1 million. The painting – known variously as Taking a Break, Lazybones, and Boy Asleep with Hoe – was stolen in 1976 from the private residence of the Grant family, where it had hung for nearly 20 years. In 2016, the FBI Art Crime Team issued a news release marking the 40th anniversary of the theft in an effort to generate interest and potential leads. The gamble worked; an antiques dealer recognized the painting and handed it over to the FBI. Interestingly, Chubb Insurance had paid $15,000 for the painting when the Grants made a claim after the theft occurred in 1976, making it the owner of the work. The Grants opted to return that amount to the insurance provider in exchange for ownership rights over the work, and Chubb donated the funds to the Norman Rockwell Museum in Stockbridge, Massachusetts. All’s well that ends well, although John Grant did mention that he wasn’t going to tempt fate by keeping the painting in his house. The painting was subsequently offered at auction in Dallas and sold for $912,500.

Amineddoleh & Associates wishes you a safe, happy and prosperous Thanksgiving!