r - The Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Normandie was the last great expression
of French Art Deco. Government
subsidies made it possible for the
Compagnie Generale Transatlantique to
begin in 1932 the building of a ship that
was to be the largest, fastest, and most
beautiful afloat. Such extravagance in the
middle of the Depression was justified by
the purpose the Normandie was intended
to serve. Just as the 1925 Paris Exposition
had wooed the world with French
luxury products, so the Normandie was to
lure Americans to the shores of France,
by bringing to their doorstep the food,
wine, furnishings, and decor for which
France was famed.
New York, which welcomed the
Normandie with wild enthusiasm after her
maiden crossing in 1935, was also to be
the scene of her demise. Seized by the
United States in World War II, the liner
was being stripped for use as a troop
carrier when sparks from an acetelyne
torch started a blaze in the Grand Salon.
Firefighting efforts caused her to capsize
on February 10, 1942, at Manhattan's
Pier 88, where she remained more than a
year before she was righted and towed
away for scrap. Fortunately, the murals
had been removed before the fire.
(Above) Rendering of the Grand Salon of
the Normandie. (Below) The Normandie
in New York Harbor, about 1935-39
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