Greenwich Village Rooftops exemplifies George Ault's highly ordered depictions of New York City, a subject that dominated his artistic output in the 1920s and early 1930s. After the 1913 Armory Show, various creative movements emerged among American artists working in New York during the early 20th century. While some artists embraced abstract geometric compositions—leading to the formation of the American Abstract Artists group in the late 1930s—others explored biomorphic abstraction, contributing to the rise of the New York School. A third group, known as the "Immaculates," pursued modern realism, creating a style called Precisionism, marked by hard-edged representations of industrial America.

Although often associated with the "Immaculates," Ault's work uniquely blends Precisionism with Surrealism, reflecting his distinct vision shaped by personal tragedy and mental illness. Ault's life was afflicted by family tragedies that profoundly influenced his art, giving it a haunting and expressive quality. Despite these challenges, Ault sought solace in his work, striving to create "order out of chaos." Greenwich Village Rooftops showcases Ault's signature approach, juxtaposing a bright, cloudy sky with the sterile forms and clean lines of the city rooftops. The buildings are eerily quiet, devoid of the life that defines the city. Ault shared this ambivalence towards the human presence with others working in the early Precisionist mode—from Georgia O'Keeffe's unpeopled views of the Radiator Building to Joseph Stella's monument to the benighted city in the five-panel Voice of the City of New York Interpreted. Ault's paintings, such as Greenwich Village Rooftops, are celebrated for their precise depiction of the urban industrial landscape, reduced to its elemental structure. The present painting combines Ault's unique style and melancholic undertones with the broader Precisionist movement. Throughout his career, Ault produced evocative images of urban and industrial settings—small towns, farms, and eerily quiet landscapes—that conveyed emotional depth and complexity, rarely idealizing modern life.