Ukiyo-e master, creator of The Great Wave off Kanagawa
A ukiyo-e master of the Edo period, who changed his name dozens of times over his life and, painting into his near-nineties, still thought himself not good enough. His Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji sets Fuji amid every kind of daily scene and wonder, and among them The Great Wave off Kanagawa — a giant wave curling like a claw over a tiny fishing boat, Fuji standing silent in the distance — became the best-known Japanese picture in the world. His prints, flowing into Europe through trade, directly kindled the "Japonisme" fever of Impressionism.
In the nineteenth century, Hokusai’s woodblock prints came to Europe with Japanese goods, and the bold compositions, flat blocks of color, and unshaded lines on the wrapping paper were a treasure to Monet, Van Gogh, and others. They collected and copied them eagerly, absorbing this new visual language into their own painting. The great wave of The Great Wave off Kanagawa thus swept from Japan into Western modern art.
Below are how modern works borrow or reinterpret this name or story — not the original material. The two differ, so keep them apart.