Hokusai

art · Japan · printmaking · landscapes

The Great Wave. Hokusai's most famous print shows a giant wave near Mount Fuji and is one of the most recognizable artworks in the entire world. People still love this image more than 200 years after he created it.

Mount Fuji series. Hokusai made a series called Thirty-Six Views of Mount Fuji, showing the same mountain from many different places and angles. Each print captured the mountain in a unique and surprising way.

Woodblock printing. Hokusai didn't paint by hand, but instead carved designs into wooden blocks, inked them, and pressed them onto paper to make prints. This method let him create many copies of the same artwork.

Changed art forever. Before Hokusai, Japanese prints mostly showed famous actors and beautiful women, but he showed that landscapes, plants, and animals could be just as amazing. His bold new style inspired artists across the whole world.

Inspired Europe. Famous European painters like Vincent van Gogh and Claude Monet loved Hokusai's work so much that they copied his style and ideas. His art sparked a whole movement in Europe called Japonisme.