“All I have done before the age of seventy is not worth bothering about.”

Katsushika Hokusai was a Japanese artist and master of ukiyo-e — the colorful woodblock prints that depicted everyday life, nature, and landscapes during the Edo period. He is best known for The Great Wave off Kanagawa, one of the most iconic works of art in the world, but throughout his lifetime he created more than 30,000 drawings, paintings, and woodblock prints.

Hokusai began as an apprentice to a woodcarver before training in ukiyo-e. Over time, he developed a distinctive visual language that combined Japanese motifs with Western perspective and bold compositions. Landscapes, particularly Mount Fuji, became his primary subject, culminating in the series Thirty-Six Views of Mount Fuji, which forever changed landscape art.

Restless and constantly experimenting, Hokusai changed his name around thirty times and moved more than ninety times during his lifetime. He believed that an artist is never finished learning and thought that his best work was still ahead of him. His influence extended far beyond Japan, inspiring artists such as Monet, Van Gogh, and Degas. When Hokusai died in 1849 at the age of 89, he had laid the foundation for one of the most influential visual worlds in art history.