The Great Wave off Kanagawa, created by Hokusai in 1831, is one of the world's most famous paintings.

But why are there more than 100 different versions of it in galleries all around the world?

Because it isn't actually a painting... https://t.co/YZ5scdFi9x

The Great Wave off Kanagawa comes from a series called Thirty Six View of Mount Fuji, created in 1831 by the master Katsushika Hokusai.

It is but one of thousands of beautiful different designs produced by the prolific Hokusai.

Here are four more from that 1831 series. https://t.co/ZaCEjfAJHf

The Great Wave is a woodblock print in the Japanese ukiyo-e style.

The artist would create an ink drawing on paper, to be pasted onto a wooden block as a guide for the engraver. This engraving was then used to print multiple, coloured copies of the original design. https://t.co/mTZy95uWwW

The roots of the ukiyo-e style are important.

Traditional Japanese art, heavily influenced by that of China, was never about directly representing reality.

Rather, it sought to capture the essence or mood of a moment, place, or person, almost like visual poetry. https://t.co/m0AFg9hCdZ

And it could be startlingly minimalist in places, if not quasi-abstract, as in the astonishingly beautiful Pine Trees Screen by Hasegawa Tōhaku, from 1595, in which barely any of the screen is actually painted.

Such art was often monochromatic, painted with inkbrushes on silk. https://t.co/bN4e7biw7W

In the 17th century linear perspective entered Japanese art via Dutch merchants. But Japanese artists didn't simply imitate Western painting - they synthesised its methods into their own art.

Notice how Ōkyo brings some subtle vanishing point into his Cracked Ice Screen: https://t.co/KbCn4dQ7RX

Moronobu was one of the first to develop the distinctive ukiyo-e style, drawing on these many disparate themes in Japanese art - of Chinese styles, traditional Japanese forms, and Western methods - to create something new and cohesive in the 17th century: https://t.co/SsrasLolg2

Crucial about ukiyo-e prints is that, despite being works of art, they were also deeply commercial in nature.

The growing middle class in Edo, the capital, were living lives of increasing luxury, and ukiyo-e prints were both a reflection and part of that. https://t.co/MmpHHggasP

From one design by an artist, transferred to woodblock, thousands of prints could be produced and sold.

A key moment had come in the 1740s, when Masanobu introduced formal Western perspective and full colour into the previously two or three-toned ukiyo-e prints. https://t.co/6MMLrcL0ZJ

And so a popular art form was born, increasingly colourful and dedicated to the lives of normal people; they were the ones buying these prints.

But that old stylised depiction of reality endured, unafraid to simplify or alter the real world into an impression of a moment. https://t.co/5V0Xde4Sh0

Many these ukiyo-e prints depicted courtesans and other women of the legalised red-light districts in Edo; a sign of the era's relative hedonism and prosperity.

Such as Utamaro's numerous series, either on "Beautiful Ladies" or "The Physiognomies of Women": https://t.co/qHlKISm2kg

Or actors from kabuki, a form of traditional Japanese theatre involving dance, sumptuous costumes, and heavily stylised drama.

The mysterious Sharaku produced many such designs in the 1790s. Theatre-goers could buy prints of their favourite actors, just like modern posters. https://t.co/j1h5aHfmjn

Hence the name ukiyo-e itself, which means "Images of the Floating World." The Floating World referred to was a metaphor for the luxury and pleasure of this urban lifestyle.

Ukiyo-e became big business, with hundreds of publishers competing in Edo to cater to this market. https://t.co/qheYWrhBTv

But in the early 1840s such licentiousness in art was prohibited by governmental reform, and so ukiyo-e turned to landscapes.

It was in this climate, combined with a growing domestic travel and tourism industry, that Hokusai rose to prominence, even producing fishing prints: https://t.co/bIc0fDb9lg

He created one series in 1834 called A Tour of the Waterfalls of the Provinces, wherein he called back to the traditional Japanese and Chinese landscapes, infused with Buddhist ideals about nature, and presented it with his own, striking visual language: https://t.co/nuHN1L9jU3

Another of the late landscape ukiyo-e masters was Hiroshige.

He helped produce The Sixty-Nine Stations of the Nakasendō in 1842, a series of views from a major road through Japan. These were places and scene with which many people would have been familiar: https://t.co/9sd0D8LZtT

And then there's something like his Eight Views of Omi, where Hiroshige shows his sensitivity toward colour: https://t.co/LcW1w8vAh0

Beyond landscapes and scenes from urban life, ukiyo-e prints also featured images from mythology and folk tales: https://t.co/4V6yE4II4C

And ghost stories: https://t.co/PtIo6vr9Lg

And were very often playful and inventive: https://t.co/Jdt0AoQl3r

And this is where we see that the difference between a painting and a print isn't trivial. An oil-on-panel painting, for example, exists in one place at one time.

Imitations can be made by other artists, but without quality photography there can be no truly accurate copies. https://t.co/F0dw5jSjE6

Unlike with ukiyo-e prints, which by design doesn't have a single, original form, but exist as thousands of copies.

Hence why museums and galleries all around the world have slightly different versions of the Great Wave off Kanagawa, all of which are technically "original". https://t.co/XSBwicJLRy

After the Meiji Restoration in 1868 Japan opened its borders to the world and to international travel again - after a 250 year period of strict isolation.

Via trade Japanese prints soon flooded Europe, and they changed the course of art forever. https://t.co/yeIc8Z6XDL

With their stylised representations of reality, vivid colours, focus on mood and atmosphere, unusual angles, and depiction of ordinary life, ukiyo-e prints were a direct inspiration to the Impressionists and all who followed.

Van Gogh made his own copies of Hiroshige prints: https://t.co/oQLTNsHG29

The Great Wave off Kanagawa isn't a painting, then, but an ukiyo-e woodblock print designed for mass distribution - a difference crucial in its appearance, nature, and influence.

None of which prevents it from being one of the most stunning works of art ever created.

I've written about Hokusai before in my free newsletter, Areopagus.

It features seven short lessons every Friday, including art, architecture, and history.

To make your week a little more interesting, useful, and beautiful, consider subscribing here:
https://culturaltutor.com/areopagus