Norman Rockwell’s Freedom to Worship Study

Norman Rockwell executed this work as a preparatory study for Freedom of Worship, one of the four paintings that comprise his iconic Four Freedoms series inspired by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s 1941 State of the Union address. Rockwell sought to capture the ideas of freedom from want, freedom of speech, freedom of worship, and freedom from fear through everyday moments of ordinary Americans.  

The paintings were published in The Saturday Evening Post over four consecutive weeks in 1943.  

Freedom of Worship, the second, was published on February 27, 1943, alongside an essay by the philosopher Will Durant.

★ Norman Rockwell, study for Freedom to Worship, oil and pencil on board, 1943. 27.5 x 31.5 “ #26371.99