Peonies and Butterfly, from an untitled series of large flowers

This print belongs to Hokusai's untitled series known as Large Flowers, made around 1833. Each print in the series shows a single plant species with an insect or small creature, rendered at near life-size scale. Two peony blooms fill the composition, one fully open in pink and white, the other still in bud. A butterfly hovers above them, its wings rendered in flat areas of dark grey and white. The stems and leaves are dark green, cut off at the edges of the frame so the flowers seem to press against the picture plane. The background is plain, the cream of the paper itself. The composition is vertical but the flowers spread horizontally, filling the space. Hokusai was in his early seventies when he designed the Large Flowers series. He had just completed the Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji, which had sold well, and the flower series was a natural follow-up. The publisher was Nishimuraya Yohachi, the same who had issued the Fuji views. The series is less famous than the Fuji prints but is considered among his finest work in the nature genre. The Large Flowers series belongs to the kacho-e tradition, bird and flower prints, which had been a part of ukiyo-e since the eighteenth century. Hokusai's contribution was to render the plants at large scale with bold, simplified forms, a departure from the more delicate kacho-e of earlier artists. Color woodblock print, oban format, 25.4 by 37.7 centimeters. The pink of the peonies was printed from a separate block, layered over the white base. The butterfly's wings are flat color with no gradient, a deliberate choice that gives the insect a graphic quality. The pinks and greens of this print make it a good fit for rooms with warm tones, botanical decor, or natural light. It works well in a kitchen, hallway, or bedroom. The 12x16 framed version in a white frame is a popular choice for smaller walls. This print is in the collection of the Art Institute of Chicago, part of the Clarence Buckingham Collection. This is a public domain artwork (CC0), from the Art Institute of Chicago. We print it on archival matte paper at sizes from 8x10 to 24x36 inches, framed or unframed. The image is printed at full resolution with no cropping.