After World War II, Germany was required to give members of the Allied nations many of its vessels as part of the reparations agreement. The SS Europa had been owned by Norddeutscher Lloyd Bremen, and was given to French Line, which renamed it the SS Liberté. From August 1950, this became the company’s flagship vessel. This poster was one of the first to feature the Liberté as part of French Line’s fleet. Reminiscent of a watercolor painting, this evocative composition shows a bird’s-eye view of Lower Manhattan, looking south past the silhouette of the Empire State Building. In the distance, the SS Liberté floats up the Hudson River in the direction of Pier 57 at 15th Street, where the Compagnie Générale Transatlantique (French Line) had its terminal. This design is distinguished from other posters advertising New York City since it features three distinctly old-fashioned buildings among the modern skyscrapers in downtown Manhattan: the tower of the Municipal Building, the dome of the Sohmer Piano Building, and the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company Tower.