Air France - Amerique du Sud Vasarely Small

This is one of the most iconic of the Air France posters. A constellation propeller plane swoops over the setting sun as it prepares for landing in the immediately recognizable Rio de Janeiro landscape. The plane is a DC-4, the main production airliner in the postwar time period. The artist of this poster is Victor Vasarely (1908-1997), the famous painter known mostly for his abstract works. When Vasarely first moved to Paris from Hungary in the 1930s and '40s, he worked as an illustrator to pay the bills. This is the only example of a work by Vasarely for Air France, and is distinctive in its difference in style than what many know him for today. Air France was formed in 1933 through a merger of several smaller international companies. These smaller airlines had already built extensive networks across the world, and when combined under the Air France umbrella they created an exciting accessibility to fliers. Air France remains one of the most highly regarded international airlines,