Collection: Hokusai Katsushika

Hokusai’s Cultural Revolution 

Hokusai’s works arriving in Europe sparked a profound cultural revolution: initially arriving by chance as wrapping material for porcelain, they captured the attention of artists such as Monet, Degas, Gauguin, Van Gogh and Whistler. The great Western masters drew from them a compositional freedom and formal synthesis capable of radically transforming the course of modern art history.
Hokusai was, and still is today, a bridge between the Eastern and Western worlds: the artist who more than anyone else made possible a profound and lasting cultural dialogue between two artistic traditions that continue to influence and enrich each other. Two centuries later, his revolution remains evident and vital: from contemporary manga to design, from fashion to tattooing, and even digital graphics.

The “old man mad about drawing”

The tireless pursuit of perfection accompanied the Master until his final moment. At the age of 89, his last words were: «If only Heaven would grant me another ten years of life, or even five, I could become a true artist». This thought holds the secret of his greatness: an absolute humility that knew how to transform every image into pulsating life.

«From the age of 6, I have felt the desire to paint anything I saw around me; after the age of 50, I had already produced a good number of works, but I was not at all satisfied with my work. Only now, at the age of 75, have I partly understood the true form and character of birds, fish and plants. By the age of 80, I will certainly have made further progress: thus, when I am 90, I will be able to penetrate the true essence of things. At 100, I will reach a high level of perfection and, at the age of 110, everything I create, every dot and every line I draw, will itself be alive. I invite all those who know me then to ascertain the truth of these words. Written at the age of 75 by someone once known as Hokusai and now called “old man mad about painting”».
Text taken from Hokusai’s spiritual testament, engraved in the colophon of One Hundred Views of Mount Fuji.