神奈川沖浪裏

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The great wave by Katsushika Hokusai

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The Great Wave off Kanagawa, 神奈川沖浪裏, Kanagawa Oki Nami Ura, lit. "Under a Wave off Kanagawa", also known as The Great Wave or simply The Wave, is a woodblock print by the Japanese artist Hokusai. An example of ukiyo-e art, it was published sometime between 1829 and 1833 (during the Edo Period) as the first in Hokusai's series 36 Views of Mount Fuji (Fugaku sanjūrokkei, 富嶽三十六景), and is his most famous work. This particular woodblock is one of the most recognized works of Japanese art in the world. It depicts an enormous wave threatening boats near the Japanese prefecture of Kanagawa. While sometimes assumed to be a tsunami, the wave is, as the picture's title notes, more likely to be a large okinami – literally "wave of the open sea." As in all the prints in the series, it depicts the area around Mount Fuji under particular conditions, and the mountain itself appears in the background.

Different impressions are in many Western collections, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, the British Museum in London, The Art Institute of Chicago, in Claude Monet's house in Giverny, France and in the Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe, Hamburg, Germany.

The Great Wave

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"Original" type, printed around 1829-1833

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Facsimile/Reproduction

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Details

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Similar works

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References

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