A Brilliant Brain

Biography

Katsushika Hokusai was a Japanese ukiyoe artist whose woodblock prints revolutionized visual culture across Europe and Japan, influencing Impressionism and modern art. His prolific career spanned seven decades, producing approximately 30,000 works that masterfully captured landscapes, nature, and the human form. Despite achieving fame late in life, he remained artistically restless, famously declaring at 73 that he was only beginning to understand true form.

Key Facts

• Created 'The Great Wave off Kanagawa' around age 70, now one of the most recognizable artworks globally
• Changed his name and artistic identity over 30 times throughout his lifetime, reinventing himself repeatedly
• Lived in extreme poverty despite his artistic genius, frequently moving to escape debt collectors
• Pioneered Prussian blue pigment in Japanese art after its introduction to Japan, revolutionizing color in woodblock printing
• Produced 'Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji' series in his 70s, demonstrating peak creative power in advanced age