Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History


    • The Great Wave at Kanagawa (from a Series of Thirty–Six Views of Mount Fuji), Edo period (1615–1868), ca. 1831–33
    Katsushika Hokusai (Japanese, 1760–1849); Published by Eijudo
    Polychrome ink and color on paper; 10 1/8 x 14 15/16 in. (25.7 x 37.9 cm) (Oban size)
    H. O. Havemeyer Collection, Bequest of Mrs. H. O. Havemeyer, 1929 (JP1847)

    The preeminence of this print—said to have inspired both Debussy's La Mer and Rilke's Der Berg—can be attributed, in addition to its sheer graphic beauty, to the compelling force of the contrast between the wave and the mountain. The turbulent wave seems to tower above the viewer, whereas the tiny stable pyramid of Mount Fuji sits in the distance. The eternal mountain is envisioned in a single moment frozen in time. Hokusai characteristically cast a traditional theme in a novel interpretation. In the traditional meisho-e (scene of a famous place), Mount Fuji was always the focus of the composition. Hokusai inventively inverted this formula and positioned a small Mount Fuji within the midst of a thundering seascape. Foundering among the great waves are three boats thought to be barges conveying fish from the southern islands of Edo. Thus a scene of everyday labor is grafted onto the seascape view of the mountain.

    This work of art also appears on Connections: Poetry

    Related


    This work has been published in the Museum's Bulletin or Journal. These articles may or may not represent the most current scholarship.
  • Meech, Julia "Early Collections of Japanese Prints and The Metropolitan Museum of Art." Metropolitan Museum Journal, Vol. 17 (1982).
    JSTOR | PDF
  • Mayor, A. Hyatt, with an essay by Yasuko Betchaku "Hokusai." The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, v. 43, no. 1 (Summer, 1985).
    JSTOR | PDF | Supplemental PDFs
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    • The Great Wave at Kanagawa (from a Series of Thirty-Six Views of Mount Fuji), Edo period (1615–1868), ca. 1831–33
    Katsushika Hokusai (Japanese, 1760–1849); Published by Eijudo
    Polychrome ink and color on paper; 10 1/8 x 14 15/16 in. (25.7 x 37.9 cm) (Oban size)
    H. O. Havemeyer Collection, Bequest of Mrs. H. O. Havemeyer, 1929 (JP1847)

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