WHAT GREAT PAINTINGS SAY

A visual representation of the anxiety felt by the artist on a busy night in Oslo, this piece was a pivotal moment in his creative outpouring

- CHARLOTTE HODGMAN

Evening on Karl Johan Street

by Edvard Munch, 1892

The wide, unblinking throng of corpse-like figures crowding out of the canvas of Edvard Munch's 1892 work must surely have unnerved viewers when it was exhibited at the Berlin Secession in 1902. Indeed, the Norwegian artist had form when it came to shocking his audiences: in 1892, his exhibition on behalf of the Union of Berlin Artists had been shut down after just one week for what was described as its 'degenerate art'.