Norman Rockawell: Imagining Freedom - A Virtual Exhibition

This virtual exhibition is an experience that you access on your computer, mobile device, or virtual reality (VR) headset.  Once you purchase it, you can access it at any anytime, anywhere, however many times you would like.

Price: $5
Members: Free

Organized by the Norman Rockwell Museum, Imagining Freedom is a virtual exhibition that explores the history and enduring legacy of President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s concept of the Four Freedoms.  The exhibition also highlights the important role played by Norman Rockwell and other American artists in communicating and advancing these universal values.

Imagining Freedom brings together over 400 artworks and objects organized into 8 thematic galleries. This exhibition is based on the exhibition Norman Rockwell: Imagining Freedom that traveled to six cities across the United States of America and France, before returning to the Norman Rockwell Museum.  This virtual exhibition provides over 3x the amount of content than what was in the original exhibition.  Viewers can explore layers of content drawn from the Museum’s collections and archives, including audio and video, reference photographs and studies, interviews, historical documents, letters and artist’s statements.

Imagining Freedom - Main Gallery
Speeches of Freedom for Freedom of Speech

Experience the beautiful galleries of Norman Rockwell Museum in the comfort of your own home, on the road, or in the classroom!

You can interact with practically every element in the exhibition.  Many of the images, especially those by Norman Rockwell, provide deeper access to related materials in the Museum’s digital collection, including: reference photos, sketches, studies, and correspondence.

Access new content specifically produced for this virtual exhibition including the Speeches of Freedom gallery.

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Explore your Museum, anywhere, anytime.

Norman Rockwell Museum has been creating new online ways for our visitors to discover our extensive collections of art, historical objects, classroom activities, and scholarship.

We are thrilled to now have curated experiences that collect related images, photography, video, audio and history relating to the Museum’s renowned collection of Norman Rockwell’s original paintings, his Stockbridge Studio, as well as the Museum’s vast collection of illustration art.  Enjoy your Virtual Museum!

Land Acknowledgement

It is with gratitude and humility that we acknowledge that we are learning, speaking and gathering on the ancestral homelands of the Mohican people, who are the indigenous peoples of this land on which the Norman Rockwell Museum was built. Despite tremendous hardship in being forced from here, today their community resides in Wisconsin and is known as the Stockbridge-Munsee Community. We pay honor and respect to their ancestors past and present as we commit to building a more inclusive and equitable space for all.

Recent Programs

DRAWING LIFE with Illustrators from Norman Rockwell’s Studio

Wonder. Storytelling. Human Connection. From a converted carriage barn on South Street in Stockbridge, MA, Norman Rockwell painted his way into the hearts and lives of people around the world. In this Studio—his last and “best yet”—Rockwell’s imaginative artistry established a legacy of creativity that continues to inspire artists and visitors alike. Today, illustration art is everywhere: books and graphic novels, editorials and advertising, video games and the metaverse, posters, comics, clothing, and tattoos.

A 14 month series of online and on-demand programs features leading illustrators from across the United States demonstrating their craft and discussing ways in which published illustration reflects and shapes society and advances social good.

Louis Henry Mitchell

SYMPOSIUM Illustration, Puppetry, and American Popular Culture:
The Art and Legacy of Tony Sarg

Recorded: October 20 through 21, 2023   LEARN MORE ABOUT THE SYMPOSIUM >

The Illustrator’s Studio Podcast  Learn More>

Berkshire Immigrant Stories

Berkshire Immigrant Stories was a collaborative effort to record and share Berkshire County residents’ stories of their journeys to the United States and our region. Some of these stories are personal, while others recount familial immigration journeys. These rich local stories were incorporated into Norman Rockwell Museum’s 2019-20 exhibition, Finding Home: Four Artists’ Journeys, which explores similar themes.

Norman Rockwell Museum is so thankful for the first-, second-, and third-generation stories we were honored to receive. Please click on the videos below to hear Berkshire County residents describing their journeys and reflecting on themes of home, hope, and belonging.

The Berkshire Resident Stories and Storybooth project were generously supported by the Elephant Rock Foundation.

A special note about the photograph: This photograph features Berkshire County residents who generously shared their immigration journeys. The individuals are arranged in a manner to evoke Norman Rockwell’s iconic 1961 painting, The Golden Rule. This painting distilled the principle that Rockwell believed was at the core of the world’s religions: “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” His montage portrait brings together people of many backgrounds, cultures, and races to offer a powerful vision of acceptance, tolerance, and peace. Rockwell pursued and refined versions of this painting for eight years. “I never stopped thinking that it was worthwhile,” he said.

The Norman Rockwell Museum would like to again thank the many supporters and sponsors of ProjectNORMAN, including:

National Historical Publications and Records Commission; Institute of Museum and Library Services; Save America’s Treasures; National Endowment for the Arts; National Endowment for the Humanities; Henry Luce Foundation; Town of Stockbridge Community Preservation.

The Norman Rockwell Museum would like to thank the following supporters and sponsors of the Museum’s digital presence:

Hobson/Lucas Family Foundation; Dr. Robert C. & Tina Sohn Foundation; Elephant Rock Foundation, and Berkshire Bank