Print at the Metropolitan Museum of Art (JP1847)
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Artist | Katsushika Hokusai |
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Year | c. 1830–1833 |
Type | color woodblock |
Dimensions | 25.7 cm × 37.8 cm (10.1 in × 14.9 in) |
The Great Wave off Kanagawa (?, "Under a wave off Kanagawa"), also known as The Great Wave or simply The Wave, is a Kanagawa-oki nami urawoodblock print by the Japanese ukiyo-e artist Hokusai. It was published sometime between 1830 and 1833 in the late Edo period as the first print in Hokusai's series Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji. It is Hokusai's most famous work, and one of the most recognizable works of Japanese art in the world.
The image depicts an enormous wave threatening boats off the coast of the prefecture of Kanagawa. While sometimes assumed to be a tsunami, the wave is more likely to be a large rogue wave. 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.
Impressions of the print are in many Western collections, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the British Museum, the Art Institute of Chicago, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the National Gallery of Victoria in Melbourne, and in Claude Monet's house in Giverny, France, among many other collections.