In art, as in life, boundaries blur when a heatwave strikes

In “summertime”, the livin’ is easy and the tempo is slow. Humidity seeps through the sultry rhythm of George Gershwin’s aria. In “Bathers at Asnières”, Georges Seurat’s painting of day-trippers on the banks of the Seine, shoulders slump beneath a hazy sky. Heat induces languor and stillness—but also debauchery and frenzy. Think of the febrile staff party in “Dirty Dancing”, or Glenn Frey sweating out the lyrics for “The Heat is On”, as, in the music video, Eddie Murphy swings from the back of a lorry.