Here's The Evolution of Hokusai's Great Waves, Captured In One Glorious Tweet
Most of us probably are pretty familiar with this work, "The Great Wave off Kanagawa" by Japanese artist Katsushika Hokusai:
It's one of the most iconic pieces of Japanese art known to Westerners. And that's no surprise, considering how breathtaking this print is.
As an artist and a printmaker, Hokusai had a long and illustrious career which spanned multiple decades. His style has, unsurprisingly, changed a fair bit throughout his career, even while he was depicting similar subject matters. On Twitter, tkasasagi, a researcher and Ph.D. student in Japanese literature, captures this perfectly with a tweet that showcases the different waves Hokusai drew over the years.
Here's a closer look of the first one, "Springtime in Enoshima," which was painted by the artist when he was 33:
The second work, "View of Honmoku off Kanagawa":
And then, "First Cargo Boat Battling the Waves," a print painted when the artist was 46:
And finally, "The Great Wave off Kanagawa," part of Hokusai's magnum opus, "Thirty-Six Views of Mount Fuji." This was painted when the artist was 72:
[Via Twitter]