Vampire

This is one of the most sensational and shocking images in European art. Edvard Munch's painting of a man locked in a vampire's tortured embrace – her molten-red hair running along his soft bare skin – created an instant outcry when unveiled a century ago. When first exhibited in 1903 in Berlin, it was touching on turn-of-the-century fears about women's liberation. Some critics were outraged by its perverse, almost sado-masochistic depiction of passion. Munch, however, always insisted it was nothing more than "just a woman kissing a man on the neck". Curiously, the work was painted within years of Bram Stoker publishing the hugely popular Dracula which may have caused the painting to be effectively renamed in popular culture.