Visiting the Norman Rockwell Museum – The Berkshires, Massachusetts

October 2024

Visiting the Norman Rockwell Museum – The Berkshires, Massachusetts

When researching our trip to the Berkshires, I saw many itineraries include the Norman Rockwell Museum. And while it was well rated, I was not expecting to spend time inside a museum – I also did not recognize who Norman Rockwell was. But when Kevin noticed a sign for it declaring recognition, I looked again and realized I did in fact know this guy, I just didn’t put together the name with his work. We had some time in the day so we swung into the Norman Rockwell museum.

And when we arrived at the museum, it was clear I knew his work – his paintings are famous! His work was regularly featured on the front cover of the The Saturday Evening Post starting in the early 1900s, then tackled current event paintings such as Four Freedoms and portraits of presidents. Stockbridge was Norman’s home in his later years and where the museum resides – it even has his house on the property.

Tickets are $25 and there are two floors to the museum to explore. We started on the downstairs floor where there is a fifteen minute video that introduces Norman, his life, and his works. I would highly recommend spending time when you arrive to watch this video as it sets up the rest of your visit. After the video concluded, we walked around the room and observed the hundreds of Saturday Evening Post covers that Norman created.

We returned to the main floor where there are two exhibits – one featuring Norman Rockwell’s famous works and the other for a rotating exhibit which displayed Mad Magazine during our visit. Starting with Norman Rockwell’s area, we were instantly amazed by the works surrounding us. Every painting told a story and we enjoyed learning about each piece. Our favorite was a beautiful portrait of downtown Stockbridge at Christmas time, just encapsulating the holiday in the best way. And getting to see the Four Freedoms in person was very neat, especially getting to read about their creation and symbolism.

Our spontaneous visit to the Norman Rockwell Museum was great and I completely understand why people include this stop on their Berkshires itinerary. It was educational without being too overwhelming and you could go at your own pace. We ended up spending just under an hour and a half here and you can shorten or extend that time depending on the amount of time you have allotted and your interest. Definitely stop by if you have time on your Berkshires getaway!

Continue reading about our weekend in the Berkshires here!

Read all blog posts for the Berkshires here!

See our complete itinerary here!

Planning your trip? Check out the Perfect Fall Itinerary to the Berkshires here!