The Art Institute of Chicago has acquired a preparatory oil study for Norman Rockwell's 1948 painting *The Dugout*, donated by former Illinois Governor Bruce Rauner and his wife Diana Rauner. This marks the first work by the iconic American illustrator to enter the museum's collection, where it now hangs alongside Grant Wood's *American Gothic*.
The acquisition is significant as it brings a major figure of 20th-century American visual culture into a premier museum's holdings, bridging the realms of popular illustration and fine art. The painting itself is a piece of sports and local history, capturing a specific moment of the Chicago Cubs' "lovable losers" reputation and illustrating Rockwell's detailed, photo-based process involving real players and fans.