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I'll Be Seeing You
ListenMusic by Sammy Fain, lyrics by Irving Kahal. Originally part of a short-lived 1938 Broadway musical, this song was an anthem of lovers separated by war. The song hit number one on the Billboard charts in July 1944, as recorded by Bing Crosby. -
Over the Rainbow
ListenMusic by Harold Arlen, lyrics by E.Y. Harburg. This iconic song from the 1939 MGM film The Wizard of Oz was the number-one song of that same year on the Billboard charts. It also won the Academy Award for Best Song. -
The Two Fridas
Oil on canvas, Frida Kahlo. Museo de Arte Moderno, Mexico City, Mexico. Two versions of Kahlo are joined by a blood vessel connecting the hearts. The self-portrait on the left shows the Mexican-born Kahlo dressed in a European-style gown, and the right shows her dressed in a Mexican one. -
Haying
Oil on canvas, Grant Wood. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. This painting, by the artist best known for his "American Gothic," depicts a Midwestern harvest scene. -
In the Mood
ListenMusic by Joe Garland. Perhaps the most famous Big Band era dance recording, Miller's version of "In the Mood" features a saxophone melody with a trumpet solo. This recording was among those distributed free to U.S. military overseas during the war. -
When You Wish Upon a Star
ListenMusic and lyrics by Leigh Harline and Ned Washington. Featured in Walt Disney's 1940 film Pinocchio, and sung by Cliff Edward, who voiced Jiminy Cricket, this song won the Academy Award for Best Song that year. It has become a pop and jazz standard. -
The Face of War
Oil on canvas, Salvador Dali. Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam, Netherlands. Spanish surrealist Salvador Dali created this painting in the midst of the Spanish Civil War and World War Two. -
St. Paul's Survives
Photograph, Herbert Mason. Mason shot this view of London under German air attack in the early morning of December 30, 1940. St. Paul's Cathedral survived the war, and this photograph, which appeared in the December 31 issue of the Daily Mail, was used as propaganda by both the British and the Germans, with opposing interpretations. -
Dora Maar au Chat
Oil on canvas, Pablo Picasso. Privately held. This painting depicts Dora Maar, Picasso's lover. The painting was not publicly exhibited between 1963 and 2005. -
God Bless the Child
Listen Music and lyrics by Billie Holiday and Arthur Herzog, Jr. Based on New Testament scripture referring to God helping those who help themselves, Holiday's recording shows off her unusual phrasing and compelling tone. -
Fanfare for the Common Man
ListenMusic by Aaron Copland. American composer Copland wrote this brief orchestral piece for the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, in response to a speech by U.S. Vice President Henry A. Wallace. -
Nighthawks
Oil on canvas, Edward Hopper. Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois. This depiction of the people in a diner open late at night begs invites storytelling. -
White Christmas
ListenMusic and lyrics by Irving Berlin. This holiday classic, as recorded by Bing Crosby, became the biggest selling single of all time. Its melancholy tone made it an anthem of the war era. -
"Hoe-Down" from Rodeo
ListenMusic by Aaron Copland. This music accompanies Agnes DeMille's ballet Rodeo, which premiered at New York's Metropolitan Opera. -
Broadway Boogie-Woogie
Oil on canvas, Piet Mondrian. Museum of Modern Art, New York, New York. This Dutch artist, then living in New York, used the Manhattan street grid and Broadway music as inspiration. -
Self-Portrait with Jewish Identity Card
Oil on canvas, Felix Nussbaum. Felix Nussbaum House, Osnabruck, Germany. Nussbaum was a German of Jewish descent who perished in Auschwitz in 1944. -
Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas
ListenMusic by Ralph Blane, lyrics by Hugh Martin. Another melancholy Christmas standard, the original Judy Garland version appeared in the 1944 film Meet Me in St. Louis. -
Four Freedoms
Oil on canvas, Norman Rockwell. Norman Rockwell Museum, Stockbridge, Massachusetts. Rockwell began this series of four paintings in response to a 1941 Franklin D. Roosevelt speech advocating U.S. support of the war in Europe. These pieces appeared over four weeks in the Saturday Evening Post magazine, accompanied by essays on their themes. -
Dream Caused by the Flight of a Bee around a Pomegranate a Second before Awakening
Oil on wood, Salvador Dali. Thyssen-Bornemisza Musuem, Madrid, Spain. Dali used Freudian themes in this surrealist painting. -
Into the Jaws of Death
Photograph, Robert Sargent. United States Coast Guard Historian's Office. Sargent, a chief hotographer's mate in the U.S. Coast Guard, shot this photograph of U.S. infantry divisions landing on Omaha Beach during the allied invasion of Normandy. -
Glow of Hope
Watercolor, Sri Haldankar. Sri Jayachamarajendra Art Gallery, Jaganmohan Palace, Mysore, India. Haldankar painted his daughter celebrating the Indian festival of light, Diwali.
