In 1975, Walter Henry Williams told a Danish reporter, “All my life I have been painting one picture. It is the picture that shows my soul and inner thoughts. When I am working, I feel a child’s naivete.” Portraying an urban scene filtered through a little girl’s imagination, Williams highlighted the harshness and isolation of city life. The girl’s figure, contained by the apartment’s fire escape, contrasts with the silhouetted water tower and an acidic yellow-green sky. Williams lost his mother at age five and was raised by a strict father. He frequently depicted children, who are thought to represent the artist’s struggle for acceptance. The children in Williams’ later works are often placed in dream-like, idealized fields of flowers.