Flaming June is thought that the woman portrayed alludes to the figures of sleeping nymphs and naiads the Greeks often sculpted. The toxic oleander branch in the top right symbolizes the fragile link between sleep and death. Flaming June was auctioned in the 1960s, during a period of time known to be difficult for selling Victorian era paintings, where it failed to sell for its low reserve price of US$140 (the equivalent of $840 in modern prices). Afterwards, it was promptly purchased by the Museo de Arte de Ponce in Ponce, Puerto Rico, where it currently resides