How Hokusai’s iconic work The Great Wave swept across the world

He’s one of the most illustrious names in Japanese art: Katsushika Hokusai, the masterful 19th-century printmaker. His tour-de-force works established the widespread appeal of landscape woodblock prints, or ukiyo-e, in Japan’s Edo period (1603-1868). Two centuries later, these scenes continue to cast a spell over the art world, having inspired artists ranging from Vincent van Gogh to Yoshitomo Nara.

Ukiyo-e prints portrayed the ‘floating world’ of Edo (now Tokyo), depicting bathhouses, pavilions, theatres and other scenes from the lively urban centre. Kabuki actors were amongst the genre’s most popular subjects, but Hokusai diverged from tradition. ‘He’s one of the first artists to work on landscapes rather than images of actors and beauties,’ says Takaaki Murakami, Christie’s head of Japanese Art.

On 10 June 2026, Hokusai’s most iconic print, Kanagawa oki nami ura (Under the well of the Great Wave off Kanagawa), widely known as The Great Wave, will be offered in the Art d’Asie sale at Christie’s in Paris.

The work was originally part of a set of prints, Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji, published to great acclaim in Japan between 1830 and 1834. Perhaps the most striking aspect of the series is Hokusai's copious use of the newly accessible Prussian blue pigment, brought to Japan by Western traders around the turn of the 19th century. Hokusai also drew significant inspiration from 18th-century Dutch manuals on linear perspective, incorporating the technique into his compositions.

Both of these novel elements are present in The Great Wave, with the brilliant blue capturing the dynamic energy of the towering wave. Today, it stands as one of the most widely reproduced images in the world.

While Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji initially comprised just 36 prints, Hokusai’s innovations made the series so popular that he added 10 more. In his day, the prints were inexpensive, sold in great volumes in the markets of Edo.

Mount Fuji, Japan’s sacred mountain, is a consistent visual element throughout the series. In the 12th century, it became the centre of training for ascetic Buddhism, and the mountain played a multi-faceted role in the lives and imaginations of the Edo people. Across the 46 prints, Hokusai portrays the famous peak in various landscapes, seasons and weather conditions.

‘His portrayal of Mount Fuji is versatile and complex,’ explains Murakami. ‘It varies by the mood and subject of each print. We see the mountain in drastically different sizes and styles. But overall, I believe Hokusai is deeply intrigued by the beauty and spirit of Mount Fuji, and often presents it with a sense of humour.’

One print, Sunshu Ejiri (Ejiri in Suruga Province), shows travellers navigating a narrow path and finding themselves assailed by a gust of wind. Tissues, leaves and a straw hat are carried away. The looming presence of Mount Fuji in the background accentuates the profound sense of human vulnerability amid nature’s force. ‘Nature was one of the most important things for Hokusai, because it is something we cannot control,’ says Murakami.

Hokusai expertly blends the grandeur of the natural world with human activities, striking a harmonious balance and offering rare insight into Edo society. ‘It’s as if Hokusai is observing society with a bird’s-eye view, where he sees the exuberance of urban Edo reflected in the tea houses, commercial streets and bustling trades by land and sea,’ says Murakami. ‘Hokusai was keen to depict the real world he witnessed and experienced, instead of the inaccessible supremacy of royalty or the staged happenings of actors.’

In Honjo Tatekawa, workers labour at a lumber yard above a canal that links the Sumida and Nakagawa rivers. The towering stacks of wood contribute to a heightened sense of movement, alluding to Edo’s burgeoning manufacturing sector. ‘Edo was a developing city during Hokusai’s time,’ says Murakami. ‘This scene would have been representative of what he saw daily.’

During the Edo period, Japan pursued a policy of isolation in its foreign affairs; the nation virtually ceased trade with other countries and imposed restrictions on travel in and out of the country. However, with the removal of the final Tokugawa shogun in 1868, Japan began reopening its borders. Subsequently, ukiyo-e prints began to be exported to the West.

Hokusai's exploration of the sublime, in which nature's beauty and its potential for awe-inspiring force coexist, has captivated artists around the world since then. As Hokusai’s prints began appearing in Europe and the United States in large numbers in the mid-19th century, they influenced artists such as Claude Monet, Edgar Degas and Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec in the development of Impressionism and other avant-garde art movements.

The Great Wave in particular has served as inspiration for countless 20th-century artworks. Its influence is clear in Roy Lichtenstein’s Drowning Girl, which portrays a blue-haired woman disappearing beneath the surf, while Andy Warhol’s Waves (After Hokusai) pays direct homage to the work.

‘The traditions and techniques found in Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji are still being used and reinvented today,’ says Lindsay Griffith, head of Prints and Multiples at Christie’s. Yoshitomo Nara’s In the Floating World is a great example. ‘You see very similar iconography, the same sort of mountains and reinterpreted domestic scenes,’ the specialist explains. She also points to Helen Frankenthaler’s woodblock print series Tales of Genji, noting its resonance with Hokusai’s work in terms of its radiance and sense of soft colour.

‘Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji comprises some of the most famous images in the print media, including The Great Wave, and it’s an incredibly important work to our field,’ says Griffith. ‘When artists work in series, they can explore things from many perspectives all in one work — and that will always be very meaningful.’

Art d’Asie is on view 6-9 June 2026 at Christie’s in Paris, alongside the Arts of Asia online sale (6-10 June), live for bidding until 12 June

Related artists: Katsushika Hokusai