The “Munch Affair” aggravated existing tension within Berlin’s art community. The younger dissenting members broke with the Verein to launch the Neue Berlin Sezession (New Berlin Secession) movement, an interpretive direction which became an integral part of the development of German Expressionism. Artists responded by establishing the Freie Künstler Vereinigung (The Union of Free Artists) to promote and preserve artistic creativity and to protest censorship.

The attention garnered as a result of the controversy worked to Munch’s advantage, bringing immediate notoriety within the circle of artists, writers and social critics. Polish poet Stanislaw Pryzbyszewski’s book Das Werk des Edvard Munch, co-authored with German art historian Julius Meier-Graefe was published in Berlin in 1894, adopting the term “psychological realism,” in regard to Munch’s work, as used by his contemporaries to describe him.

The “Affair” also provided Munch with unprecedented publicity, promising a significant German market for his art and carrying invitations to exhibit elsewhere in Germany, including Berlin’s Equitable Palast in December of the same year. Enjoying both financial and social benefits, Munch remained in Berlin for the next few years. It was here he met Swedish dramatist August Strindberg, whose plays carried themes of intense interpersonal relationships, rather the theatrical equivalent of Munch’s art. Munch later became acquainted with another well-known Scandinavian dramatist and fellow Norwegian, Henrik Ibsen, and Munch designed sets for Ibsen's Paris production of Peer Gynt. During his years in Berlin, Munch also met Norwegian cultural activist Dagny Juell, inspiration for numerous works, including Madonna, and The Hands. It is said that Juell remained the most influential woman in Munch’s life.