WASHINGTON — The White House Historical Association has reclaimed a series of sketches by American painter and illustrator Norman Rockwell, spending a whopping $7.25 million at auction on Friday.

The four 1940s-era sketches titled “So You Want to See the President!” were displayed in the West Wing for years, but were removed in 2022 after a family dispute over who owned them.

The sketches show a variety of people — journalists, military officers and even a Miss America Pageant winner and her publicist — seated on plush-looking red chairs as they waited to meet President Franklin D. Roosevelt. They were put up for sale by a grandson of the White House official who had received them as a gift from Rockwell.

“I can’t tell you how personally thrilled I am that the White House Historical Ass

See Full Page