The idea: let’s ask staff members and readers this question:

If you had to represent the 20th century with one image—from any medium—what image would you choose?

Well, the response was overwhelming, and delightfully varied, as you will see. Some people obviously took the century very seriously. Some reacted to it with deep irony, some with a smirk, some with a scowl.

We've added brief notes or commentary only where such seemed helpful. Most of the more idiosyncratic pictures, it seemed, work better with no words. Which is not to say we fully understand why a given person chose a certain picture.

One thing that became clear in poring over the images: they are, without exception, thoughtfully selected. Usually, a little contemplation will reveal what was going on in the chooser’s mind, although you may disagree with the choice.

As you might expect, a few pictures are so embedded in our consciousness that they were selected by several people. We've put those first. The remainder, some sad, some funny, some surreal, some highly ambiguous, we leave for you to enjoy.