Storm below Mount Fuji (Sanka no haku u), from the series Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji (Fugaku sanjūrokkei)

This print shows Mount Fuji from a distance during a rainstorm, with rain falling in dark diagonal streaks across the lower slopes. It is one of the designs in Hokusai's Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji, made around 1830. The mountain occupies the upper portion of the composition, its peak clear against a light sky while the base disappears into rain. The rain is rendered as fine parallel lines of dark blue and grey, cutting diagonally across the image. A band of white cloud separates the dry peak from the wet base. The lower third of the print is dark, with trees and terrain suggested in silhouette. The overall effect is of weather closing in, the mountain half-visible through the storm. Hokusai was in his seventies when he designed the Fuji series. He had survived a stroke in 1827 and recovered, and the series that followed showed no decline in his inventiveness. Each print in the series presents Fuji from a different angle, in different weather, at different times of day. This one is the rain view. The Thirty-six Views series was a commercial project, published by Nishimuraya Yohachi in Edo. It was one of the first ukiyo-e landscape series to achieve broad popularity. The use of Prussian blue, a recently imported synthetic pigment, gave the prints a tonal depth that helped distinguish them from earlier work. Woodblock print, ink and color on paper, 25.4 by 37.5 centimeters. The rain lines were carved as thin grooves in the woodblock, printed in dark blue over the lighter base. The format is oban, the standard commercial print size. The cool blues and greys of this print make it suitable for rooms with a restrained palette: white walls, grey or blue textiles, minimal furniture. It works well in a bedroom or office, where its moody atmosphere can be appreciated. The 16x20 canvas version is a good choice for a modern interior. The Met's impression came through the Henry L. Phillips bequest in 1939. This is a public domain artwork (CC0), from The Metropolitan Museum of Art. 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.