Norman Rockwell Paints the Soda Jerk 1953

Here we see Norman Rockwell painting, probably with oil on canvas, a slice-of-life scene. I can almost smell the tobacco from his pipe mixing with the sweet, sickly odor of the soda fountain he's depicting. Rockwell, I imagine, is thinking hard about how to get it just right—the slightly goofy expressions, the shiny surfaces, the way the light bounces off the chrome. He's using long, deliberate strokes, building up layers of color to get that perfect, almost photographic realism. Look how carefully he renders the details: the red ribbons in the girl’s hair, the crisp white of the soda jerk’s uniform. He's really committed to capturing a certain kind of American ideal, and he’s in conversation with other illustrators like J.C. Leyendecker. Painting, like any creative act, is about trying to say something, trying to find the right way to communicate an idea. Rockwell’s paintings show us that, even in realism, there's room for imagination, interpretation, and a whole lot of skill.