At my local gallery, the guide said eastern art is typically "read" from right to left, as opposed to the western style of reading left to right. The fishermen are rowing into the waves, not escaping it. They are doing what they do everyday, and this wave comes along, not something they encounter everyday but certainly not disastrous. If you read it from left to right, however, you might be inclined to think this great wave sprung up to engulf unsuspecting fishermen, who are now trying to escape it. (but you can tell that their boats are pointed towards the wave, they are rowing into it, not trying to escape it.)

There's a detail that I really like in this painting: The foam from the waves almost look the snowflakes falling around Mt. Fuji !

Makes me think about what land even is, you know? It's really just what the sea is breaking against. I read about that in a novel once. -John

we need to talk more about Japanese art

I have this on my wall in my living room. Gorgeous work. It was described as meaning when you are prepared to overcome obstacles, even ones which you do not control, they are no obstacle for you by an art teacher in high school. I will love it forever due to his interpretation of resilience.

Hey it's me

This was a phenomenal overview of "The Great Wave!" I really enjoyed it and this whole style of Art Assignment videos! Keep up the good work!

I love the painting, but I always actually liked the other paintings in the Mt.Fuji series that play with the colors of the sky ranging from plain canvas white to crepuscular greenish yellow, extremely Romantic stuff haha

I love this type of art. I've been studying the artwork of a friend of Hokusai's, Utagawa (actual name Ando) Hiroshige. He made some incredible Landscape artistry. But I plan to start studying Hokusai as well. I know that Wave well.

These videos are so amazing. How have I missed this channel for so long? I especially like how you guys manage to share such a vast amount of different art and give a concise and easy to follow contextualisation. It's like you show us the tree and the viewer can then choose which branches to follow. Great, great stuff. :)

Loved the art/climate change parallel. What strikes me about this work is its porousness (mind the pun). The use of the same blues, yellows and white in the painting's three subjects (the wave, Fuji, and boats/men) and the perspective of Fuji as a possible wave itself betray deeper meaning than the vast and terrifying nature of the sea. The encroaching ocean may engulf mountains and the mountains we humans often believe ourselves to be, but we are inevitably and unavoidably part of the same world. Land, oceans, and organic matter all have a stake in our planet's future. Hokusai's painting, ahead of its time, seems to speak to our contemporary ecological predicament beautifully. Once again, great video.

My absolute favorite japanese artwork, as I'm sure it is for many :) so dynamic, so iconic

My personal interpretation of the painting is life can be unpredictable sometimes

You did a fantastic job and the video turned out beautifully comprehensive and catching. But may I add, that Ukiyo-e means pictures of the floating world and that it does include paintings as well as woodblock prints? Woodblock prints were just more accessible and were abundant and therefore better preserved. But a lot of Bijinga- or pictures of beautiful women- were also painted on wood or silk screens.

One of my favorite iconic paintings.

Can't wait to see this painting for real at the British Museum next week!

Surfing isn't a demonstration of mastery over nature, but harmony with it. Other than that, cool video.

Great video, but one can't possibly see "Under the great cookie monster of Kanagawa" as a crime to the original; imitation is the greatest form of flattery, and although it looks... weird, I'd wager the cookie monster was done with heart or humour. Maybe

Today is Hokusai's birthday and it made me come back to this video!

KZfaq is the best argument for why education of all kinds and especially art education should be free to all people of the world. The learning curve is made almost flat . Remember when if u wanted to learn about something, u had to go find a library or encyclopedia Britannica. Most the time you didbt even know what u wanted to know. Learn people of the world!! Open your minds and set free your thirst for knowledge. Be whatever your little heart desires...then give it back. Imagine the beauty that would follow....

Art History prof here. I love to have my students pick apart this image as an example of "visual poetry," literally an image in which visual elements "rhyme" all throughout, from side to side, top to bottom, and front to back. Look closely and you will notice uncanny shape and pattern repetitions all throughout the piece that lead your eye around. My favorite is to rotate the image until it is upside-down. Do this, and you'll notice that the negative space of the sky is also wave shaped, creating a perfect yin-yang mirroring of positive and negative space in the composition. It is truly a masterwork of an image.

Last year in my Intro To Sculpture class in University, we had an assignment that we had to choose a famous 2D work of art to turn into a sculpture made mainly of recycled cardboard (but like, glue/tape/paper and paint were needed) My prof. encouraged reused materials whenever possible, especially with first year works. I chose the Great Wave print, and I think the only thing I actually purchased for the project was $5 of craft paper and maybe $5 of dollar store acrylic paint, and the sculpture was about 3 feet by 2 feet by about 18-24 inches tall, took about 30 hours to complete and wound up showing in a small show in the University's gallery displaying 1st year works and I'm so proud of it, I wish I could show you.

I'm one of those people with a Great Wave tattoo. I got it as a symbol of rolling with and rising above challenges. So I guess I kinda got it for the right reason.

Wow, great video! I'd just like to make a recommendation, the animation movie "Miss Hokusai", it's about the life of Katsuhika Oi, the daughter of Katsuhika Hokusai, a lot of their paintings come alive in the movie! It's very beautiful and poetic.

Let's not forget it's uses of the golden mean. This makes it pleasing to the eye.

"The ultimate, most wavelike of all waves" :D I love these videos

This is one of the best vids I have come across as an Art educator about an artist and a specific work. I love how this covers so many important aspects of this piece. Probably the most informational AND relatable art history videos I have seen without it being made into a cartoon or over simplifying things. LOVE this.

wow end of that video gave me chills tbh

I feel as if the art all comes down to how you see it. You give it the meaning that it deserves. We all perceive differently.

The fractal nature wave/splashes and also the fractal detail in the clouds is just insane. You can tell this man really fucking studied his shit bc u see this compared to his first drawings and it's a behemoth. Even the drops of water... it just comes to life better than most hiperrealist works of art.

very here for the art + climate change parallels. 🌊🌎🔥

Totally loving these "Better Know" episodes. I've seen the big wave all over (including some of those crimes, I'm sure ;) and getting to know more about the original is great. But it's been turned into an emoji? Yikes! (and if ya can't beat 'em... 🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊 :P)

this art piece is my favorite and i watched many videos to learn more about it, this video has helped me to know the secret behind every part of it thank you its very helpful!

If you are going to VidCon USA, we are doing a community Art Assignment. We are doing the Make it/Break It Assignment. We will probably meet outside the main stage at 8am Friday. Just bring something for another community member to break.

Genuinely my favorite art piece of all time.

🌊Having an emoji made out of your art work is goals.

im so happy about this video I LOVEEE this painting more then any other art piece

Another excellent and extremely informative video from The Art Assignment. I am new to this channel and I'm loving all of the superb high quality work! Thank you!

Great video! One thing I also notice is that the waves are given animal like characteristics, for example the top of the waves are very claw like and extended out like limbs. If you look at the the other wave illustrations, they fail to to convey the power of what is a natural monster, a rouge wave like that has the power to bend steel. It is the most prominent figure in the composition and it dwarfs the humans on the boats. We immediately identify with the fisherman, who seem to appear as if they are about to be swallowed by this “beast.’’ This image is so powerful because it taps intro our sub consciousness, don’t know it it was intentional by the artist! But great nonetheless!

I love how you discuss and share concepts, your voice just excites me in a special way. I'm glad to have come across your channel and I hope you continue making these valuable videos.

I love the voice-over. You always have the perfect words to exactly describe things about the art and the emotions it evokes. And the way you end these videos reminds me of some of john's thoughts from places vids :)

🌊🌊🌊🌊

So apparantly the Art Assignment shares a special someone's obsession with pictures of waves... I wonder if the whole Green family has been infected with the love for wave metaphor and where it's going

I really need to watch more Art Assignment

I didn't know that The Great Wave was "just another print" in a series featuring Mt. Fuji. I also didn't know that it was originally made for everyday people. I like it even more now. Thanks for the great video!

Any chance the fact that this painting is now public domain has played a role in how iconic it's become?

The Japanese has really heavenly inspired Pop Culture.

Yes. YES. YEAAAAAAASSSSSSS I love this art. Even before I hadn't known who made it.

this video gave me chills

Thank you to this channel for making art so accessible to noobs like me

This channel saved my AP Art History grade

For me in represents how us humans categorise things - Mt Fuji is painted as to be disguised into the wave which is to say that nature is a whole yet humans draw lines between 'mountains' and 'oceans'

the cookie monster one was the best!

This woodblock print is considered the most famous work of Katsushika Hokusai and one of the most famous masterpieces of Japanese art in the world. The subject of the painting is astonishing. We see how the passengers of the three boats are powerless against the fury of nature.

These videos are AMAZING.

I'm loving this series! Keep up!

The guys in the boat take a deep breath and hold on expecting to be pushed under but their lungs will act to raise them back up. It shows that cooperation will help you survive.

it has caused fractal enthusiasts to call Hokusai ahead of his time

This video and it’s editing is very very good 👍🏼👍🏼 I love re watching it

The painting is also an important mathematical study. Hokusai was drawing fractal forms long before Mandlebrodt.

I've always been afraid of that painting, but I've recently become more curious about it, I still have a lingering fear over it but to me that's what makes it beautiful, how it makes you feel.

Oh hey it’s the woosh water by Hokusai

A stunning film--THANK YOU!

This channel is f***ing awesome!!!!

Great history lesson on the wave painters. I enjoy painting waves and surf real thanks for sharing the amazing time capsule 👍🏼🗝🔓🎨

More "Better Knows" please! Super ace!

The drawing at 6:01 => WoW !!

I LOVE PRINTMAKING AND I LOVE THIS

One most know that Hokusai painted it when he was old and poor (who was very popular once but got broke) and those cycle-like things at the edge of the wave might represent the on-goingness of life.

'Floating World'- 👁believe -also refers to where Geisha & "Ladies of the Evening" lived/worked 🤔

I saw it in person and it’s amazing

I saw this image used in many places but i never knew the name until now

Not gonna lie, learned a lot about some of this from Samurai Champloo. I am a man of culture after all.

It's all up to each individual viewer.

I had a guilty giggle at the cookie monster wave

The translation is more "Inside" or "Within" the wave. So it refers to the men in the boat. And the story isn't that they were fisherman. They were two boat teams racing for an Imperial mail delivery contract, why they were risking the weather.

BRILLIANT LAST SENTENCE GIRL, i mean it was liquid...

Still one of my favorite images.

I love hearing you talk about things. I'm so excited to hear you talk about more things. And it feels nice to know that I can buy a 'great wave' graphic tee and not feel guilty about the art's representation vs intent! (Yes, this is my immediate takeaway.)

*I thought they were all wee little pups!* 🐶🐕

I don’t know why this image is so inspiring.

those jokes are hilarious. brilliant video

I normally love your videos but this episode was all over the place. From global warming to monet to the cookie monster. ✴

Why is everyone only talking about this, katsushika hokusai is the one who also created THE FIRST EVER TENTACLE HENTAI

Love this! More in this series please!

This is awesome!

I was going to buy the Great Wave Concert Ukulele by Luna Guitars. and so, of course I had to seek for information about this stunning piece of art. That's why I clicked the video, and now I want this uke even more!❤🌊

The funny thing is that this painter probably thought... “Damn that took me a whole 30 minutes, on to the next one.”

omg they used the same background music as Vox did lol im like HEY look it's Indietronika .. i got excited, love that album

Thank you Sarah & your team for the amazing videos! 🙂🙃

"Cultured" anime MC after reaching climax: 0:10

The drawing includes the nature of fractals in that the small curls are of the same nature as the great curl.

Speaker: “this is not actually called the great wave” ...then continues to call it the great wave lol

Never knew this was an emoji 🌊

Loved it !

I've got david bull's print of it. Fantastic

Takes me back to studying this at University

The assertion that the image demonstrates linear (one point) perspective is utterly incorrect. This image shows depth and space through overlapping and size differences. But those are not linear perspective; although they do coincide with its use. (One point) Linear perspective is a mathematical system wherein parallel orthogonal lines converge on a single (imaginary) point on the horizon line and not on a random spot like a mountain top. The reduction in the size of objects is mathematically determined, based on the distance from the picture plane. Although, honestly, most artists simply sight size the objects. I was enjoying the presentation up to that point.

This was amazing!!! I've been seeing this picture in a slide show of old paintings that runs in the background at work and I have always wanted to know more about it. And wow I now feel empowered! (Unlike the fisherment beneath the wave!) Also, I never saw Mt. Fuji before. Cool!

amazing content ~ thank you