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The Private Life Of A Masterpiece

The Great Wave off Kanagawa

(神奈川沖浪裏, Kanagawa Oki Nami Ura, lit. "Under a Wave off Kanagawa") is a famous woodblock print by the Japanese artist Hokusai. It was published in 1832 (Edo Period) as the first in Hokusai's series 36 Views of Mount Fuji and is his most famous work. It depicts an enormous wave threatening boats near the Japanese prefecture of Kanagawa. As in all the other prints in the series, Mount Fuji can be seen in the background. The wave is probably not intended to be a tsunami, but a normal ocean surface wave created by the wind, called an okinami in Japanese. Like the other prints in the series, it depicts the area around Mount Fuji under particular conditions.

Copies of the print are in many Western collections, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, the British Museum in London, and in Claude Monet's house in Giverny, France.