The Day I Painted Ike 1952

Norman Rockwell made this painting of Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1952, and what gets me is the day of it, the physical doing. I can imagine how the painting came into being, shifting and emerging through trial, error, and intuition. Rockwell’s layering of thin washes gives the face such a sense of depth, like a roadmap etched into skin. Look how he’s mixed so many muted pinks, yellows, and browns to map Ike’s face! What was Rockwell thinking when he made it? He uses a specific gesture to communicate feeling. The face looks so solid, like the artist wants it to last forever. Painting is such an embodied expression. What Rockwell’s doing here is so different, yet related, to what someone like Alice Neel does, capturing a likeness, but also an inner life, a presence. As painters, we are in an ongoing conversation and exchange of ideas across time, inspiring one another’s creativity. There are multiple interpretations and meanings, never fixed or definitive readings.