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Concept
Breaking Home Ties
Summary
Breaking Home Ties is a painting by American illustrator Norman Rockwell, created for the September 25, 1954, cover of The Saturday Evening Post. The picture represents a father and son waiting for a train that will take the young man to the state university. The painting, considered by experts to be one of Rockwell's masterworks, is also one of the most widely reproduced, and was voted the second-most popular image in Post history.
The details of the picture, as with most of Rockwell's works, tell a story, in this case a story of endings and beginnings, as a boy from New Mexico leaves home for the first time. The young man, his father and a dog, sit on the running board of the family's stakesided farm truck. The ticket protruding from the son's pocket, and the single rail visible at the lower corner of the painting, by which the trio sit, suggest that they are at a whistle stop waiting for the train.
The son's books are stacked on a new suitcase bearing a "State U" pennant. With his tie and socks perfectly matched, wearing pressed white trousers and matching jacket, he is ready for his new life in college. The young man's shoes are shined to a polished gleam, as, hands folded, and with the family dog resting his head in his lap, his gaze focuses eagerly toward the horizon, and on the next chapter in his life.
In contrast, the father sits slumped with both his and his son's hats clutched in his hand, as if reluctant to let him go. The direction of his gaze is opposite to his son's. The tag from a Bull Durham tobacco satchel dangles, near at hand, from his shirt pocket. There is a red flag and a lantern at the ready, near his right hand, atop a well-used trunk. With the son's luggage unloaded and waiting next to them, there is nothing left for him to do but signal the train to stop, and his pose suggests that he is looking up the track, dreading the imminent arrival of the train that will carry his son away.
Though the two figures are not looking at each other, their legs are touching and emphasize the strong sense of family ties.
Official source
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