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4. The Death of Marat — Jacques-Louis David (1793)
Here's where things get a little more grounded in reality.
The Death of Marat depicts the murdered French revolutionary Jean-Paul Marat lying in his bathtub after being stabbed to death.
What makes the painting so effective is how calm the composition appears.
There's no chaotic action.
No screaming crowd.
Instead, we see a dead man in a bathtub.
The simplicity makes the image surprisingly haunting.
It's essentially historical true crime rendered as fine art.
And if horror movies have taught us anything, it's that the phrase "based on a true story" makes everything approximately 37 percent creepier.
