The Checkup 1957

Editor: This is Norman Rockwell’s "The Checkup" from 1957. It looks like an oil painting, and I'm immediately struck by the different emotions on each girl’s face. The one on the right seems shocked, the other almost confrontational, and the girl on the left looks ashamed. What do you see in this scene? Curator: Well, that's just it, isn’t it? Rockwell’s knack for distilling these potent, almost theatrical emotions into everyday scenes is just incredible. I look at it and immediately feel like I've stumbled into the middle of some intense schoolyard drama. Did someone just get caught cheating on a test, or perhaps someone has failed the medical examination? There is such a storybook mood, but is this scene also about childhood friendships and betrayal, about the vulnerability of trust? Editor: It makes me wonder about what happens next. What kind of person would you say Rockwell was at the time he painted this? Curator: Someone very observant. His focus seems always drawn towards moments that illuminate a kind of shared humanity. You see it in the tension he creates with colour and light, really pushing realism to convey so much through seemingly simple storytelling. Consider those tightly clutched books, practically shields held in defense! Do they serve as the metaphorical barrier or maybe even instruments of knowledge and guilt in this delicate standoff? And what is up with the fresh bouquet? How do those come into play? Editor: Those are details I wouldn’t have caught. Looking at the titles and textures really adds to the story. I never appreciated how a realistic painting could be so open-ended. Curator: Exactly. He offers us this little vignette and lets us fill in the gaps, making us complicit in the unfolding drama. It is such a poignant moment of youthful relationships. What do we take away about ourselves from their exchange?