Norman Rockwell Paintings Removed from the White House (by Request) and Being Replaced with Pictures of Joe Biden

Four paintings by Norman Rockwell have been removed from the White House walls. The paintings come from the “So You Want to See the President” series which features famous figures waiting to meet the president.

The paintings are from when Rockwell visited the White House in 1943. It is reported that the family has requested the paintings back. These paintings had been displayed in the famous West Wing of the building. “Several pictures of President Biden” have replaced these paintings according to The Hill and Politico. Also from The Hill in part:

The prints were initially on display in the lower press hallway, but they were moved to the hallway between the upper press area and the Roosevelt Room during the presidency of George W. Bush. 

Not all Norman Rockwell prints have been removed from the White House. “Working on the Statue of Liberty,” in still “in the building”. It’s unclear how common it is for paintings or prints to be requested back by family members of famous artists, simply to be replaced without much creativity by pictures of the current sitting president.

However, we’re sure the president has every right to do so, whether people like it or not, and the next president can get more creative if he or she wants to, or they can simply put pictures of themselves up, or leave the Biden photos if they really like Joe Biden for some odd reason.

Read more about the remaining Rockwell piece that was gifted by Steven Spielberg in a 2017 NRM.org piece here.

They reported in part:

This original oil on canvas work was once owned by noted film director Steven Spielberg, a long-time fan and collector of Norman Rockwell’s work. Mr. Spielberg, who serves on the board of Norman Rockwell Museum, eventually donated the painting to the official White House Collection in 1994. Since that time, Presidents Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, and Barack Obama have each had it on display in the Oval Office (an interesting note is the placement of fellow illustrator Frederic Remington’s sculpture Bronco Buster below the painting). An additional series of Rockwell works—appropriately titled So You Want to See The President (Saturday Evening Post story illustration, November 13, 1943)—are also on loan to the White House, and on view in the building’s West Wing.

Politico originally reported on the Rockwell paintings being removed here.