The breathtaking composition of this woodblock print, said to have inspired Debussy’s La Mer (The Sea) and Rilke’s Der Berg (The Mountain), ensures its reputation as an icon of world art. Hokusai cleverly played with perspective to make Japan’s grandest mountain appear as a small triangular mound within the hollow of the cresting wave. The artist became famous for his landscapes created using a palette of indigo and imported Prussian blue.
#8807. Under the Wave off Kanagawa (Kanagawa oki nami ura), also known as the Great Wave, from the series Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji (Fugaku sanjūrokkei)
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「富嶽三十六景 神奈川沖浪裏」
Title:Under the Wave off Kanagawa (Kanagawa oki nami ura), also known as The Great Wave, from the series Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji (Fugaku sanjūrokkei)
Artist:Katsushika Hokusai (Japanese, Tokyo (Edo) 1760–1849 Tokyo (Edo))
Period:Edo period (1615–1868)
Date:ca. 1830–32
Culture:Japan
Medium:Woodblock print; ink and color on paper
Dimensions:10 1/8 x 14 15/16 in. (25.7 x 37.9 cm)
Classification:Prints
Credit Line:H. O. Havemeyer Collection, Bequest of Mrs. H. O. Havemeyer, 1929
Accession Number:JP1847
Signature: Zen Hokusai Iitsu hitsu
前北斎為一筆
Mrs. H. O. (Louisine W.) Havemeyer , New York (until d. 1929; bequeathed to MMA).
Houston. Institute for the Fine Arts, Rice University. "Art Nouveau," March 1, 1976–June 30, 1976.
Art Institute of Chicago. "Art Nouveau," August 1, 1976–October 31, 1976.
Sarasota Springs. Skidmore College. "A Survey of Japanese Prints: Moronobu to Nensho," February 14, 1980–March 2, 1980.
London. Royal Academy of Arts. "Katsushika Hokusai," November 15, 1991–February 9, 1992.
Dallas Museum of Art. "Katsushika Hokusai," May 24, 1992–July 19, 1992.
Nagoya City Museum. "Ukiyo-e from the Metropolitan Museum of Art," April 14, 1995–May 28, 1995.
Milan. Palazzo Reale. "Hokusai: Il Vecchio Pazzo per la Pittura," October 1, 1999–January 9, 2000.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "A Sense of Place: Landscape in Japanese Art," May 8–September 8, 2002.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Great Waves: Chinese Themes in the Arts of Korea and Japan I," March 1–September 21, 2003.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Poetry and Travel in Japanese Art," December 18, 2008–May 31, 2009.
Washington, DC. Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Smithsonian Institution. "Hokusai: Thirty-Six Views of Mount Fuji," March 24, 2012–June 17, 2012.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Discovering Japanese Art: American Collectors and the Met," February 14 - September 27, 2015.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Making The Met, 1870–2020," August 29, 2020–January 3, 2021.
Munsterberg, Hugo. The Japanese Print: A Historical Guide. New York: John Weatherhill Inc., 1982, p. 114, fig. 50.
Forrer, Matthi. Hokusai: Prints and Drawings. Exh. cat. Munich: Prestel, 1991, cat. no. 11.
Waves: they’re not just in the ocean. We need waves of light to look at art at The Met. But what if we want to take a closer look? Then, we use an electron microscope, a cool tool that uses energy waves to zoom in on art like never before.
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Katsushika Hokusai (Japanese, Tokyo (Edo) 1760–1849 Tokyo (Edo))
ca. 1833
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