Plus Plus Inspired - Hokusai The Great Wave

Observe, admire, and create with the Plus-Plus Inspired® series. Iconic works of art, like Hokusai’s The Great Wave, have delighted viewers worldwide for ages. Now, let this masterpiece inspire you to make something uniquely yours to enjoy at home or in the office. Included is an engaging leaflet about this artwork, the artist, and ideas to help inspire your own creations.

350 Pieces Ages 7 & Up

How does Hokusai's The Great Wave inspire you?
Something Vincent van Gogh, Claude Monet, and Gustav Klimt had in common: they all owned Hokusai prints. Each of these famed artists credit Hokusai's work as inspiring their own. For them, it was his radical
experimentation with focal point and linear perspective (an illusion of depth on a flat surface). Nevertheless, one particular Hokusai piece has been admired by virtually everyone–The Great Wave. Originally titled Under the Wave off Kanagawa, it was the first woodblock print in a series he called 36 Views of Mt. Fuji.

Perhaps mistaken for a tsunami, the large rogue wave features menacing white claw like tips and the use of imported Prussian blue ink. With Mt. Fuji in the distance, the tension-filled wave ascends above the sailors in their long, narrow boats in what is considered a compositional masterpiece. He made 1,000 original copies of which less than 100 are known to exist today. Nearly 200-year-old original prints can be seen in museums in major cities all around the world. The Great Wave stands as the most recognizable work of
Japanese art in the world, and one of the most reproduced images in art history.

The Great Wave
Woodblock print, c. 1831
10.2 x 14.9 in / 25.8 x 38 cm
Numerous locations around the world

KATSUSHIKA HOKUSAI
b. 1760, Edo (now Tokyo), Japan; d. 1849, Edo (now Tokyo), Japan