Roofs, Summer Night 1906

Curator: John Sloan's "Roofs, Summer Night" captures a scene of urban slumber; bodies sprawled on rooftops under a hazy sky. It’s held here at the Harvard Art Museums. Editor: It’s evocative, isn’t it? A sweltering night, that feeling of needing to escape the stuffy indoors... Curator: Sloan, with his Ashcan School sensibilities, frequently depicted everyday life, challenging societal norms by portraying the lives of the working class. Editor: Absolutely. You can almost feel the heat radiating from the print, the desperation for a breath of fresh air. There's a real intimacy in these shared moments of rest. Curator: It really is an image of resilience, isn’t it? Finding respite amidst the constraints of urban life. Editor: It makes you wonder about their stories, their dreams... Even in sleep, they're connected to the city, to each other.