Giovanni Segantini was born in the County of Tyrol in the Austro-Hungarian Empire, but his parents died when he was still young and he went to live with his step-sister Irene in Milan.

[1] A visit from the art dealer and critic Vittore Grubicy, who had discovered and promoted Segantini, around the end of 1886 or beginning of 1887 with news of the latest developments in painting sparked Segantini's interest in Symbolism and Divisionism; from that point on he began to produce more allegorical studies, often set in the bleak, snowy, clearly lit landscapes of the Alps.

[3] Segantini's longing for the mother who had died when he was a child coupled with his resentment at losing her may be reflected in this dichotomous approach to the theme of motherhood.

[3] The women in The Punishment of Lust are suggested to have aborted or lost their children, and although this would have been a sin in Segantini's eyes, he has still treated them sympathetically and, as the poem Nirvana does, hints that they could be redeemed; they are suspended in a dream-like state and, though stark, the landscape is not unpleasant – Segantini regarded the mountains as his spiritual home – and the inclusion of withered trees symbolises a possible return to life in a new spring.

[4] The British band Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark named their 13th studio album The Punishment of Luxury as a play on the title of Segantini's canvas.