In this painting, SS Liberté is portrayed slowly pulling past the skyline of New York City in the mid 1950s. She has slowed down slightly to enable the tug in the foreground, which is turning in towards her, to drop off some late arrivals for the voyage to France. Among the passengers are two stars from the movie Sabrina, Humphrey Bogart and Audrey Hepburn, best known as Bogie and Sabrina.
In the background the New York skyline of of the mid-1950s is revealed. Some of the more noted buildings, as viewed from left to right are: First the iconic Empire State Building, followed to the right by the New York Telephone Company Building, then the famous 90 West Building (designed by Cass Gilbert around the time of the turn of the century). Beside her is a group of buildings with mansard roofs which are the Hudson Terminal Buildings. Next to them is the famous Woolworth Building. Visible immediately to the right of Liberté’s second funnel stands the City Investing Building and the beautiful Singer Tower. To its right is the cupola of the Municipal Building of New York City (designed by Stanford and White). Further to the right stands the Whitehall Building. In between it and Liberté’s first funnel the Irving Trust Building lies in view, while visible to the right of the first funnel is the Manhattan Bank (built in competition with the Chrysler Building which won the honors for highest skyscraper). Peering behind Liberté’s foremast is the City Services Building. Further to the right rises the Farmer’s Trust. The yellow toned stepped up building appearing just behind the bow is Number 120 Wall Street.
Many movie scenes were made that involved SS Liberté, perhaps the best known being the 1954 movie Sabrina. The beautiful liner makes her appearance in several scenes but is best known as the romantic backdrop for the well-known deck scene where Audrey Hepburn as Sabrina Fairchild and Humphrey Bogart as Linus Larrabee sail off in a lived-happily-ever-after voyage to France.In this painting, stepping further into fiction, Sabrina and Linus are observed in their anniversary celebration, where they ceremoniously ride the family tug, now named the Sabrina Larrabee, to board SS Liberté for yet another voyage to France.

Link with movie details: Cruising the Past