{"id":16724,"date":"2025-05-19T14:20:22","date_gmt":"2025-05-19T12:20:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.chateaunantes.fr\/?page_id=16724"},"modified":"2025-06-27T17:13:20","modified_gmt":"2025-06-27T15:13:20","slug":"the-great-wave","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.chateaunantes.fr\/en\/the-great-wave\/","title":{"rendered":"The Great Wave"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The work Under the Wave off Kanagawa<\/em>, widely known as The Great Wave<\/em> was the sixteenth print executed by Hokusai in 1831 for the series Thirty-Six Views of Mount Fuji.<\/em> It is one of his masterpieces. The exact number of copies published is unknown. Approximately one hundred proofs of the first prints made during the artist\u2019s lifetime are preserved today. In 1842, it was priced at sixteen mon<\/em>, the equivalent of two bowls of noodles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The scene seems relatively easy to interpret. Fragile skiffs transport fish\u2014particularly bonito\u2014by sea from the fishing villages of the Izu and B\u014ds\u014d peninsulas towards the markets located in Edo Bay. However, they are confronted with an immense wave that threatens to engulf them. In the distance, the snow-capped Mount Fuji can be seen. As the name of the series suggests, this is above all a portrait of the sacred mountain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This decorative image seems to evoke an eternal Japan. It makes use of a classic technique of Asian art by contrasting the dynamism of the foreground with the serenity of the background. Above all however, it evokes the fragility and smallness of humankind in the face of the elements, unlike Mount Fuji, which remains invincible, imperturbable, and eternal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But is it possible to interpret this image in another way? Could we say that it also evokes the instability and uncertainties that prevailed at the time of its creation? Japan, closed to foreigners for over two centuries, had been faced with increasing pressure from the West to open its borders since the start of the 19th century. The world of Edo would soon change, and the opening of the country, forced by the American Commodore Perry in 1853 and 1854, would cause massive upheavals. Perhaps Hokusai\u2019s contemporaries perceived this sense of foreboding in The Great Wave,<\/em> hence its widespread success.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another possible interpretation is that the wave is like a bulwark protecting Japan. For if the work testifies to the end of an era, it is also linked to the beginnings of the country\u2019s opening. The motif of the wave may reflect the lure of the elsewhere, as well as the new and potentially dangerous horizons that must now be faced… Did they also see in it a message of hope? At that time, the arrival of the first bonito of the year on the stalls of the eastern capital was synonymous with a good omen. It is difficult to choose between these different interpretations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Whatever the case may be, The Great Wave<\/em> is indisputably a hybrid work. Despite the distinctive Japanese aesthetic, it also uses Western techniques like the use of linear perspective and the Prussian blue pigment, a synthetic dye massively imported since the 1820s. It therefore bears witness to a period when nothing could be conceived without the other. Beyond its depiction of the fragility of human destiny, its syncretic dimension confers it with a universal status that speaks to us all, regardless of epoch and borders. The work is now a global icon, in the same way as Leonardo da Vinci\u2019s Mona Lisa<\/em> or The Creation of Adam<\/em> in the Sistine Chapel, painted by Michelangelo.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Masterpieces from the Hokusai-kan Museum, Obuse<\/h3><\/div><\/div><\/a>
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Water in Hokusai\u2019s work<\/h3><\/div><\/div><\/a>
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Katsushika Hokusai 1760-1849 : Chronology of the Edo period<\/h3><\/div><\/div><\/a>
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Female beauties and actors of the Edo period<\/h3><\/div><\/div><\/a>
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Ukiyo-e\u00a0<\/h3><\/div><\/div><\/a>
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Painting nature<\/h3><\/div><\/div><\/a>
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Observing and sublimating the landscape<\/h3><\/div><\/div><\/a>
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Hokusai in Obuse\u00a0<\/h3><\/div><\/div><\/a>
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Hokusai and Mount Fuji<\/h3><\/div><\/div><\/a>
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The work Under the Wave off Kanagawa, widely known as The Great Wave was the sixteenth print executed by Hokusai in 1831 for the series Thirty-Six Views of Mount Fuji. It is one of his masterpieces. The exact number of copies published is unknown. Approximately one hundred proofs of the first prints made during the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":17358,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"indications-recherche":[],"class_list":["post-16724","page","type-page","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nThe Great Wave - Ch\u00e2teau des ducs de Bretagne | Mus\u00e9e d\u2019histoire de Nantes<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.chateaunantes.fr\/en\/the-great-wave\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Great Wave - Ch\u00e2teau des ducs de Bretagne | Mus\u00e9e d\u2019histoire de Nantes\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The work Under the Wave off Kanagawa, widely known as The Great Wave was the sixteenth print executed by Hokusai in 1831 for the series Thirty-Six Views of Mount Fuji. 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