Born in Edo province (now Tokyo) to unknown parents, Katsushika Hokusai (1760 - 1849) is perhaps the most famous Japanese artist. A precocious young talent for drawing, he earned his living in a xylographic workshop during his youth.

In 1778, he joined the studio of the master Katsukawa Shunsho (1726 - 1792) who was a painter of ukiyo-e prints specialising in portraits of actors. The following year, he produced a whole series of popular portraits under the name of Katsukawa Shunro. However, he resigned from the studio after the death of his master because of a dispute with his successor Shunko.

Hokusai then went through a period of extreme poverty during which he learned the techniques of the school of Kano Yusen, Tsutsumi Torin and Sumiyoshi Naiki. He also turned to Western art and discovered perspective thanks to a Japanese artist called Shiba Kokan.

Between 1796 and 1799, the artist produced numerous prints and albums on separate sheets, called surimono. It was at this time that he first took the nickname Hokusai. In 1800, he called himself Gakyojin Hokusai, "the madman of drawing".

Prolific, he published in 1814 the first of the fifteen volumes of the "Hokusai Manga", a notebook of sketches and drawings of all kinds, which represents life as it was during the Edo era. Anxious to make his erotic or fantastic prints known, he travelled around Japan in search of recognition. He would only gain recognition later as a painter of landscapes such as Fine Wind, Clear Morning, combining his mastery of Japanese techniques with those of Western perspective. It was in 1831 that he painted his famous work The Great Wave off Kanagawa. Hosukai's work includes at least 30,000 drawings and prints, which were to constitute a major aesthetic shock in Europe and influence certain artists of the late 19th century.

When he died on his deathbed, he said these last words: "If heaven had granted me ten more years of life or even five, I could have been a real painter.