4. Edvard Munch – The Kiss, 1895
Munch exhibited his paintings in Kristiania and Copenhagen, and the success of these shows led to a solo presentation at the prestigious Berlin Artists Association in 1892. The exhibition featured a series of six provocative paintings that included early versions of Kiss, Jealousy, and Despair, collectively titled Study for a Series: Love. They depicted, in the artist’s words, “the struggle between man and woman called Love.” The works outraged members of the conservative association who voted to close the show after only one week. The ensuing scandal made the artist an overnight sensation in German modernist circles, capitalising on his new-found notoriety, Munch moved to Berlin in 1893, where the artist gained a reputation in Berlin as one of the leading painters -and printmakers – of his generation.