The image above (large version here) is one of illustrator Haddon Sundblom’s wonderful paintings of Santa Claus pausing to refresh himself with sponsor Coca-Cola’s sugary carbonated beverage.
The now famous paintings were part of an illustrated campaign that ran from 1931 to 1964. Though Coca-Cola’s claims for Sundblom’s role in the creation of the modern version of Santa Claus are overstated, as I point out in my previous post on Haddon Sundblom, that does nothing to diminish the wonderful painterly quality of his interpretations of the old boy.
The company has a page devoted to the Coca-Cola Santas, and there are more resources and links in my previous post, as well as an earlier post on Illustrators’ Visions of Santa Claus.
