Katsushika Hokusai

#1. A Late Bloomer. In his sixties, Hokusai created some of his most famous pieces, such as The Great Wave off Kanagawa, demonstrating that creativity was not limited by age.

#2. Obsessed with Mount Fuji. He created not one, but multiple series with Mount Fuji because he saw the venerated peak as a source of inspiration and immortality.

#3. A Revolutionary Use of Color. Prussian blue, a vivid color brought from Europe, was used by Hokusai, one of the first Japanese artists, to change the look of his works.

#4. Global Influence. Hokusai’s work profoundly impacted Western art, inspiring luminaries like Van Gogh, Monet, and Whistler to experiment with composition and perspective.

#5. A Master of Manga. His Hokusai Manga volumes, which covered a wide range of topics from everyday life to the fanciful, were more than just sketchbooks; they were educational masterpieces.

The Great Wave off Kanagawa (c. 1831) - not for sale, considered priceless.

Fine Wind, Clear Morning (Red Fuji) (1831) - not for sale, considered priceless.

The Dragon of Smoke Escaping from Mount Fuji (c. 1835) - sold for $4.5 million in 2018; current estimates exceed $7 million.

Travelers Crossing the Oi River (1833) - sold for $3.8 million in 2016; current estimates exceed $6 million.

Thunderstorm Beneath the Summit (1831) - sold for $3 million in 2015; current estimates exceed $5 million.

"Hokusai’s art captures the essence of Japanese culture, blending tradition with innovation."Art historian, Keiko Tanaka

"Through Hokusai’s brush, nature is rendered with elegance and dynamic energy."Critic, Hiroshi Yamamoto

"Every Hokusai print feels like a perfect harmony of form, color, and emotion."Scholar, Akiko Suzuki

"Hokusai’s genius lies in his ability to make the ephemeral eternal through his art."Curator, Yuki Nakamura

"In Hokusai’s works, the viewer finds a timeless connection to the beauty of the world."Critic, Takashi Sato

Sumida Hokusai Museum, Tokyo — dedicated to the artist in his home district.

Hokusai Museum, Obuse, Japan — paintings from his final years.

Tokyo National Museum — prints and paintings.

British Museum, London — one of the great Hokusai print collections outside Japan.

Museum of Fine Arts, Boston — superb ukiyo-e collection including The Great Wave.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.

Musée Guimet, Paris.

Woodblock prints with bold flat colour, strong outlines, and a compositional daring rare in Japanese art before him. Recurring motifs: Mount Fuji in every weather and season, breaking waves, bridges, cascades, and the daily life of 19th-century Japan. Iconic use of Prussian blue, a pigment new to Japan, which gives many of his most famous works their unmistakable hue. Detailed foreground figures set against simplified backgrounds. Exceptional drawing in hands, feet and faces that transcends the print format.

Apprenticeship (1778–1794): Trained in the studio of Katsukawa Shunsho.

Name-Changing Decades (1794–1830): Used more than 30 artistic names across experiments with different schools and subjects.

Thirty-Six Views of Mount Fuji (1830–1832): The series including The Great Wave off Kanagawa and Red Fuji.

Late Masters (1834–1849): “One Hundred Views of Mount Fuji,” Manga drawings, paintings in his nineties. Died at 89 saying he wished for “five more years to become a real artist.”

“From the age of 6 I had a mania for drawing the forms of things. By the age of 50 I had published many works, but nothing I produced before the age of 70 was of any value at all.”

“If only Heaven will give me just another ten years, or even five years, then I could truly become a great painter.”

Hokusai’s most famous works are woodblock prints, not paintings — but when reproduced as oils they demand the absolute flatness of colour and the decisive thin black outlines of the print tradition. Watery gradations (bokashi) in the original blocks must be translated into oil without becoming smeary. Compositions rely on precise proportional relationships between Mount Fuji, foreground figures and empty space — small errors throw off the entire pictorial balance. A reproduction painter must honour the graphic discipline of ukiyo-e while also giving the oil version its own physical weight.