Interactive exhibit "The Four Freedoms: Real and Imagined"

In the January 1941 State of the Union Address, President Franklin D. Roosevelt identified “Four Freedoms,” essential human rights that should be universally protected: Freedom of Speech, Freedom of Worship, Freedom from Want, and Freedom from Fear. American artist Norman Rockwell later illustrated these rights as aspects of daily American life. Rockwell’s paintings were mass-produced on magazine covers and propaganda posters to promote the war effort, becoming the face of the Four Freedoms.

“The Four Freedoms: Real and Imagined” explores and contextualizes the Four Freedoms by comparing the ideals depicted by Rockwell with people’s actual experiences in the United States during World War II.

You’re invited to step inside a recreation of the dining room of Rockwell’s “Freedom from Want” image and re-imagine the scene.

This exhibition was conceived, curated, and installed by Westminster College Museum Studies students.