Flaming June

Despite his training as an academic painter, Frederic Leighton championed the ideas of Aestheticism, which believed in an "art for art's sake," independent of narrative, moral connotations and realistic detail. In Flaming June, Leighton depicts a sleeping female figure, curled up under a cascade of orange drapery. This type of subject was used by Leighton frequently as an invitation for introspection, a figural representation of the unconscious mind. Considered as an outdated artwork in the 1970s, Luis A. Ferré acquired the work despite being advised not to--his decision would ultimately result in a superb addition to his museum's British art collection.