Norman Rockwell Gallery
Norman Rockwell’s Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn Paintings at the Mark Twain Museum
In 1935, renowned American artist Norman Rockwell was commissioned by Heritage Press to illustrate special collector’s editions of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain. To prepare for the project, Rockwell traveled to Hannibal, Missouri—Mark Twain’s boyhood hometown—to create preliminary sketches inspired by the real-life settings of the novels. He later returned to his studio in New Rochelle, New York, where he completed the now-famous oil paintings that would become some of the most beloved illustrations of Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn ever produced.
After the publication of Tom Sawyer, the original Rockwell illustrations were loaned to the Mark Twain Boyhood Home & Museum. In 1940, Rockwell borrowed them back for a national traveling exhibition of his works. By 1941, both the Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn illustrations were reunited and sent to the museum, where they have been proudly displayed ever since. In 1972, Rockwell formally donated the original paintings to the museum’s permanent collection.
The paintings underwent professional conservation treatment at the Saint Louis Art Museum and are now framed under ultraviolet light-filtering glass for preservation. All of the works on display are original oil paintings by Norman Rockwell—with one exception.
The only piece not represented by its original oil painting is “The Fence Painting Scene.” The original artwork was sold during Rockwell’s 1940–1941 exhibition tour and now resides in the Farnsworth Art Museum in Maine. However, this piece has periodically returned to Hannibal for special exhibitions.
Visitors often ask about the illustrations in the first editions of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn. Those early editions were illustrated with pen-and-ink drawings—by True Williams for Tom Sawyer and Edward Kemble for Huckleberry Finn.
Due to copyright restrictions, digital images of Rockwell’s illustrations cannot be displayed online. However, visitors can view the original Norman Rockwell paintings—along with lithographs of his preliminary sketches for Tom Sawyer—in the Museum Gallery every day.
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