The Great Wave off Kanagawa

Collezione Edoardo Chiossone 1898

Katsushika, Hokusai

1830 - 1832

S-2583/13

Unità di misura: cm; Altezza: 26; Larghezza: 37.6

Hokusai. Sulle orme del Maestro - Roma, Museo dell'Ara Pacis, Spazio esp. Ara Pacis - 12 ottobre 2017 – 14 gennaio 2018<br>Dipinti e stampe del Mondo Fluttuante. Capolavori Ukiyoe del Museo Chiossone di Genova - Genova, Palazzo Ducale - 16 aprile – 21 agosto 2005

Universally known as "The Great Wave", this print is the most popular of the "Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji" series. It represents a highly innovative case in the history of ukiyo-e landscape painting, "the art of the floating world", an artistic production aimed at the bourgeois public of the Edo Period (1600–1867). Becoming famous in the West at the end of the 19th century thanks to the spread of Japonism, this powerful view was much loved by the Impressionists and still continues to influence design, marketing and advertising today. The composition consists of three main elements: the stormy sea, the boats and Mount Fuji. The boats are called oshiokuri-bune, barges 12/15 meters long used for transporting fish still alive. Each boat is operated by eight rowers and carries two passengers. This ukiyoe woodblock print can be considered the iconic image of the modern contrast between man and nature. The great wave that puts sailors in difficulty is an image of nature that dominates man, and contrasts with the other great natural element of the work: the volcanic mountain of Fuji, the national symbol of Japan. The artist became famous for his landscapes created using a palette of indigo and imported Prussian blue.