Once the initial chorus of outrage and incomprehension had subsided, the British began to realise the significance of what they were seeing. It was observed the exhibition was just as crowded when it closed in January as it had been when it opened two months earlier. Somewhere along the way, derision was replaced by avid attention. ‘Public taste in pictures is advancing faster than the critics’,’ noted the Graphic. ‘The general attitude was one of admiration.’17 Like it or loathe it, modern art seeped into the consciousness of even the best-insulated.
