The night photograph shows luminous advertising signs in the West Berlin cityscape of 1955: clearly legible are the names “Cinzano”—the Italian vermouth and aperitif manufacturer—and “Teekanne Brand,” a well-known West German tea brand. The brightly radiating neon signs stand out sharply against the dark night sky and convey an urban consumer mood. Such neon advertising of Western brands in early Federal Republic West Berlin was a deliberate symbol of economic recovery and joie de vivre. As the “showcase of the West,” West Berlin relied especially at night on visible contrast to gloomy East Berlin and to the omnipresent awareness of division. The photograph documents the beginning of the economic miracle (Wirtschaftswunder) as a visual experience in public space.