All of the people in the picture were friends and family of Rockwell in Arlington, Vermont, who were photographed individually and painted into the scene.

Although the image was popular at the time in the United States and remains so, it caused resentment in Europe where the masses were enduring wartime hardship.

Eventually, the series was widely distributed in poster form and became instrumental in the U.S. Government War Bond Drive.

The Norman Rockwell Museum describes it as a story illustration for The Saturday Evening Post, complementary to the theme,[7] but the image is also an autonomous visual expression.

In mid-June Rockwell sketched in charcoal the Four Freedoms and sought commission from the Office of War Information (OWI).

"[14] However, Saturday Evening Post editor Ben Hibbs recognized the potential of the set and encouraged Rockwell to produce them right away.

Hibbs alleviated Rockwell's thematic concern; he explained that the illustrations only needed to address the same topic rather than be in unison.

[16] In Freedom from Want, he used his living room for the setting and relied on neighbors for advice, critical commentary, and their service as his models.

[23] After the Four Freedoms series ran in The Saturday Evening Post, the magazine made sets of reproductions available to the public and received 25,000 orders.

Although all were intended to promote patriotism in a time of war, Freedom from Want became a symbol of "family togetherness, peace, and plenty", according to Linda Rosenkrantz, who compares it to "a 'Hallmark' Christmas".

[25] Embodying nostalgia for an enduring American theme of holiday celebration,[26] the painting is not exclusively associated with Thanksgiving, and is sometimes known as I'll Be Home for Christmas.

"[30] Despite Rockwell's general optimism, he had misgivings about having depicted such a large turkey when much of Europe was "starving, overrun [and] displaced" as World War II raged.

[21][31][32] Rockwell noted that this painting was not popular in Europe:[31][32] "The Europeans sort of resented it because it wasn't freedom from want, it was overabundance, the table was so loaded down with food.

[11] To art critic Robert Hughes, the painting represents the theme of family continuity, virtue, homeliness, and abundance without extravagance in a Puritan tone, as confirmed by the modest beverage choice of water.

[35] Solomon finds it a departure from previous depictions of Thanksgiving in that the participants do not lower their heads or raise their hands in the traditional poses of prayer.

[39][nb 1] As he neared his thirtieth birthday, the Philippine immigrant and labor organizer[40] Bulosan was experiencing a life that was not consistent with the theme Rockwell depicted in his version of Freedom from Want.

[42] Bulosan rose to prominence during World War II when the Commonwealth of the Philippines, a United States territory, was occupied by Japan.

[44] In a voice likened to Steinbeck's in works such as The Grapes of Wrath,[41][43] Bulosan's essay spoke up for those who struggled to survive in the capitalist democracy and was regarded as "haunting and sharp" against the backdrop of Rockwell's feast of plenty.

[41] Unlike Roosevelt, Bulosan presented the case that the New Deal had not already granted freedom from want as it did not guarantee Americans the essentials of life.