Dream & Discover

The Wick Culture - JP1847

Dream Hokusai

Hokusai, The Great Wave, c.1831
Image: Metropolitan Museum of Modern Art, online database

It’s hard to think of a more famous image than Hokusai’s The Great Wave. Since its introduction to Europe in the mid-19th century, it’s starred in blockbuster exhibitions, commanded million-dollar sums at auction and inspired artists from Van Gogh to Debussy. It even has its own emoji.

Despite such celebrity, it’s in fact quite a terrifying image. Battling for survival against a towering wave with claw-like crest are fishing boats heading away from Edo (Tokyo). For many, it’s the perfect representation of man within nature. Hokusai was in his 70s when he created this image, which would go on to make both his name and his fortune.

READ MORE
The Wick Culture - Katsushika Hokusai, Kanagawa oki nami ura (Under the Wave off Kanagawa), c. 1830–1832
Dream & Discover

Dream Under the Wave off Kanagawa (The Great Wave)

The Wick Culture - Dream Hokusai
Dream & Discover

Dream The Son of Man

The Wick Culture - Image credit: Bayeux Museum
Dream & Discover

Discover The Bayeux Tapestry

The Wick Culture - Album cover for The Beatles, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, 1967. Peter Blake, Jann Haworth, Photograph by Michael Cooper.
Dream & Discover

Dream The Beatles' Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band Album Cover

The Wick Culture - Dream Hokusai
Dream & Discover

Dream Woolworth’s Roses by Clare Woods

The Wick Culture - Photo: Mads Smidstrup/ARoS
Dream & Discover

Discover As Seen Below – The Dome, A Skyspace