In the News

U.S Rep. Richard Neal and the Norman Rockwell Museum hosted a Washington D.C. reception Tuesday to celebrate the Berkshire County art institution’s launch of its touring “Rockwell, Roosevelt and the Four Freedoms: Enduring Ideals” exhibition.

The Springfield Democrat and museum officials celebrated the Stockbridge painter’s iconic works with an evening event at the House Ways and Means Committee Room on Capitol Hill.

Neal, who chairs the powerful House panel, said the reception with museum leaders and members of Congress sought to pay homage to Rockwell’s “aspirational view of America.”

“I think that the four freedoms that Rockwell and (former President Franklin) Roosevelt annunciated through verbiage and art had very endearing, as well as enduring values. ... His view of the world, it was really something he hoped for, knowing that our work is unfinished,” he said in an interview.

The Rockwell exhibition features the painter’s 1943 works depicting “Freedom of Speech,” “Freedom of Worship,” “Freedom from Want” and “Freedom from Fear.”

It begins its world tour at George Washington University Museum and The Textile Museum in Washington D.C., where it will be on display from Feb. 13 to April 29.

From there, the exhibition will travel to Memorial De Caen in France and the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston before returning to the Norman Rockwell Museum in Stockbridge in the fall of 2020.