Still Life

Massachusetts Town Recreates Famous Rockwell Painting

Stockbridge, Massachusetts, prides itself on being home to Norman Rockwell, so much so that the small New England community decided recreate the scene from one of the famed painter’s works. The Rockwell holiday classic, Stockbridge Main Street at Christmas, took 11 years to complete for McCall’s magazine and for the past 20, the town has set out to recreate it, even moving vintage cars onto the streets. Seemingly the image, which hangs in the artist’s museum outside the charming Berkshires town, is frozen in time. Stephanie Plunkett, chief curator of the Rockwell museum, says the oil painting was meant to evoke the warmth and peace of the holiday season, which was fitting for Rockwell since he and Christmas go hand-in-hand. Plunkett deemed Rockwell, “the modern creator of the holiday,” helping physically form the way we view Santa Claus and the season on a whole.