“The Outing”

The Outing IS A CLASSIC EXAMPLE of a "before and after" painting that takes as its subject matter a situation that anyone can identify with. In the upper panel a family is setting out for a day trip to the country. Everyone is in high spirits. Father, chomping on a freshly lit cigar, sits erect at the wheel of a sedan that is old enough to have been used for many such expeditions. His wife is beside him, their youngest daughter in her lap. Another daughter blows out bubble gum, and the family's two sons lean from open windows, one of them making derisive faces at the occupants of a late-model car that is just coming into the picture.

Even the family dog is full of anticipation. In the lower panel the same family is returning home at the end of the day, spent and exhausted. Father, chewing on an unlit stub, is slumped over the wheel. His wife is asleep, and the children can barely keep their eyes open.

Only the grandmother, stoic on the back seat, remains unchanged. She has been on too many outings to allow herself the luxury of an emotional buildup, so she alone has escaped the subsequent letdown.

What makes these panels so effective is the fact that Rockwell manages to tell us so much about the people on this expedition. The vintage of the car and the number of children tells us that this is a family that has known hard times. No one in this car takes luxuries for granted, and so a day trip to Bennington Lake is an important event in their lives. This knowledge engages our sympathy and makes the contrast between the two panels moving rather than just amusing.