Hokusai Great Wave: The Complete Collector's Guide to the Most Reproduced Artwork in History

Last updated: May 2026 · By Stanislav Arnautov · Berlin

Katsushika Hokusai (Edo/Tokyo, 1760 – Edo/Tokyo, 1849) produced the Great Wave off Kanagawa (Under the Wave off Kanagawa, Japanese: 神奈川沖浪裏) as plate 1 of his series Thirty-Six Views of Mount Fuji, published by Nishimiya Yohachi (Eijudo) in Edo circa 1831–33. The print has since been collected by at least 12 major institutions worldwide, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York (acquired 1921), the Art Institute of Chicago, the British Museum London, the Bibliothèque nationale de France Paris, and the Art Institute of Chicago. It is estimated to be the most reproduced artwork in history — surpassing even Van Gogh's Starry Night and Leonardo's Mona Lisa — appearing on approximately 1,000+ commercial products and in an estimated 50,000+ licensed reproductions across all media annually. DeckArts reproduces the Great Wave as a diptych on Grade-A Canadian maple from approximately $230, shipping from Berlin.

DeckArts

Hokusai — Great Wave Diptych (~$230)

c.1831, woodblock print, Metropolitan Museum of Art New York. Prussian blue (invented Berlin 1704) and cream on Grade-A Canadian maple. The most reproduced artwork in history — and the most uniquely suited to warm wood.

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The Great Wave: History and Technical Context

Hokusai was 70 or 71 years old when he published the Great Wave as the opening plate of Thirty-Six Views of Mount Fuji. He had been working as an artist for over 50 years and had changed his artistic name at least 30 times — each change signalling a new direction. The series was his commercial breakthrough in the nishiki-e (brocade picture) woodblock print format and the work that introduced Japanese printmaking to a Western European audience when the prints reached Paris via Dutch traders in the 1850s and 1860s. The resulting Japonisme movement influenced Monet (who collected 231 Japanese woodblock prints), Van Gogh (who copied two Hiroshige prints in oil), Degas, and Toulouse-Lautrec directly.

The technical composition of the Great Wave is more geometrically precise than it appears in most reproductions. The wave crest follows the arc of a logarithmic spiral — the same mathematical curve found in nautilus shells and hurricane formations. Mount Fuji in the background is geometrically identical in proportion to the hollow of the wave — wave and mountain are the same shape at different scales. The foam fingers at the wave's crest are anatomically specific: they represent the moment of maximum velocity just before the breaking of the wave, when the water droplets separate from the crest. At the DeckArts diptych's approximate 45 cm width, these compositional details are legible in a way that most small-format reproductions cannot provide.

Prussian Blue: The Berlin-Invented Pigment

The Great Wave's dominant pigment is Prussian blue (Berlin blue, Preußischblau) — the first synthetic pigment in history, invented in Berlin in 1704 by Johann Jacob Diesbach, a colour maker working in the laboratory of Johann Konrad Dippel in Berlin's apothecary district. Prussian blue was produced commercially in Berlin from approximately 1710, exported globally through Dutch and British trading networks, and reached Japan by approximately 1820 through the Dutch East India Company's Dejima trading post in Nagasaki. Hokusai began using Prussian blue in approximately 1820–25 — appearing in the Great Wave around 1831 as the print's dominant cool pigment, replacing the indigo-based blues he had used in earlier work.

The DeckArts Great Wave diptych is therefore produced in the city that invented the pigment Hokusai used — a material-historical connection unique to DeckArts among all Great Wave reproduction formats globally. Prussian blue on Grade-A Canadian maple under warm LED at 2700K reads as a precisely calibrated cool accent against the warm maple ground — the warm-cool contrast is the print's primary chromatic logic, and the warm maple amplifies it rather than flattening it on cold white synthetic canvas.

The Great Wave in Every Interior Style

Diptych vs Single Deck: Which Format for the Great Wave?

The Great Wave's original woodblock dimensions are approximately 25.7 × 37.9 cm — a horizontal composition. The DeckArts single deck at 85 × 20 cm presents a vertical crop of the composition, focusing on the wave's central arc and the foam fingers. The DeckArts diptych at approximately 45 cm wide presents a broader horizontal section of the composition, including the relationship between the wave's arc and Mount Fuji in the background — more faithful to the original's compositional logic. For living rooms, bathrooms, and Japandi interiors where the Great Wave serves as the primary focal point, the diptych is the more compositionally accurate choice. For hallways, home offices, and secondary walls where a single focal element is preferred, the single deck is the correct scale.

FAQ

What is the Great Wave off Kanagawa?

The Great Wave off Kanagawa (c.1831, woodblock print, approximately 25.7 × 37.9 cm) is a woodblock print by Katsushika Hokusai (Edo/Tokyo, 1760–1849), published as plate 1 of Thirty-Six Views of Mount Fuji (c.1831–33). It uses Prussian blue — the synthetic pigment invented in Berlin in 1704 — as its dominant colour. It is held by at least 12 major institutions including the Metropolitan Museum of Art New York and the Art Institute of Chicago. It is estimated to be the most reproduced artwork in history, appearing on 50,000+ licensed reproductions annually.

Where is the original Great Wave?

No single "original" Great Wave exists — woodblock prints are produced in editions. The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York holds the most visited impression (acquired 1921). The Art Institute of Chicago, British Museum London, Bibliothèque nationale de France Paris, and at least 9 other major institutions also hold impressions. The print was produced in an edition of approximately 5,000–10,000 impressions at the Eijudo publishing house in Edo (Tokyo) circa 1831–33. DeckArts reproduces the Great Wave from institutional-quality source images on Canadian maple from approximately $230.

What does the Great Wave mean?

The Great Wave off Kanagawa depicts a rogue wave threatening boats near the coast of Kanagawa (modern Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan) with Mount Fuji visible in the background. Art historians read the composition as a meditation on the relationship between human scale and natural power (the boats are tiny relative to the wave), and on the co-existence of fleeting natural drama and permanent natural presence (the wave's moment vs the mountain's permanence). Hokusai was approximately 70–71 when he published it, working at the height of a 50-year career.

Why does the Great Wave work so well on Canadian maple?

The Great Wave works on Canadian maple because Prussian blue — the print's dominant pigment — is a cool colour that reads most precisely as a cool accent against a warm ground. Canadian maple's warm amber grain provides a warm undertone beneath the UV-protected archival print that creates the same warm-cool contrast as the original's warm washi (Japanese paper) ground. Cold synthetic canvas provides no warm ground; Prussian blue on cold canvas reads as a flat cool swatch rather than a precise cool accent against warmth.

Article Summary

The Great Wave off Kanagawa (c.1831, woodblock print, approximately 25.7 × 37.9 cm) by Katsushika Hokusai (Edo 1760–1849) was published as plate 1 of Thirty-Six Views of Mount Fuji circa 1831–33. Its dominant pigment, Prussian blue, was invented in Berlin in 1704 by Johann Jacob Diesbach — the DeckArts diptych is produced in the city that invented the pigment Hokusai used. The Great Wave is held by 12+ major institutions including the Metropolitan Museum of Art New York (acquired 1921) and is estimated to be the most reproduced artwork in history (50,000+ annual reproductions). Prussian blue on Grade-A Canadian maple under warm LED 2700K produces the warm-cool contrast the original's warm washi ground provided — unavailable on cold synthetic canvas. DeckArts diptych from ~$230, Berlin, 100+ year archival printing, 30-day return guarantee.

About the Author

Stanislav Arnautov is the founder of DeckArts and a creative director originally from Ukraine, now based in Berlin. With experience in branding, merchandise design and vector graphics, Stanislav connects classical art, skateboard culture and contemporary interior design through premium skateboard wall art.