凱風快晴 (Fine Wind, Clear Morning) by Katsushika Hokusai

Towards the end of the Edo period, during the 1850's and -60's, Japan went from holding an isolationist foreign policy, to opening up for foreign trade. As a consequence Japanese culture hit Western societies like a wave, among it the art of woodblock printing and painting called Ukiyo-e. Artists like Hokusai and Hiroshige had a huge influence on the new generation of artists in Europe, who were looking for alternatives to what they thought to be outdated and rigid rules set by the academic painters.