New York, Hokusai’s “The Great Wave” submerged his own record

The iconic “The Great Wave” by Japanese artist Katsushika Hokusai (1760-1849) has set a new world record: the original woodblock print of one of the most reproduced images in all of art history was sold on Tuesday evening March 21, from Christie’s auction house in New York for 2,760,000 dollars, starting from an estimate of 500,000 dollars.

This award overturned the previous record that was set in March 2021, also at Christie’s, when the ukiyo-e style work was sold for 1.6 million (estimate of 150-200 thousand dollars).

“The Great Wave” is part of “The Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji” published in the early 1830s by Hokusai with which the artist reached the peak of his career revolutionizing the art of ukiyo-e printing . A work of art that has also become fundamental for Western culture: it shows a wave ready to crash against three boats and Mount Fuji which, saturated with snow, watches the scene from afar. «Waves that are claws», wrote Vincent Van Gogh, describing those rippled lines.

The sale that kicked off Asian Art Week in New York brought in a total of $11,413,992, well above the lowest pre-sale estimate. There was global participation with bidders from 22 countries in Asia, the Middle East, Europe and North America. Other notable auction results include a white porcelain Korean Moon Jar that sold for $4,560,000, setting a new record for an example of this category of Korean pottery. “Three Seated Women” from 1962, a Park Sookeun oil painting, whose work is highly prized by collectors in Korea and around the world, sold for $441,000. A set of 12 Japanese ukiyo-e woodblock prints by Kitagawa Utamaro depicting “The Twelve Hours of the Pleasure Quarter” fetched $226,800, more than five times its lowest estimate.