Top 50 · Japanese painting
Fifty painters, six centuries of Japanese creation
From Sesshû to Foujita: ink, Kanô and Rinpa schools, ukiyo-e, nihonga, yôga and avant-gardes.
Japanese painting develops in a continuous dialogue between brush, paper, silk, gold and print. Sesshû gives the ink landscape a monumental architecture; the Kanô and Rinpa schools organize the large decorations; Hokusai, Hiroshige and Utamaro transform the urban culture of Edo into world images. From Meiji, nihonga and yoga redefine the relationship between tradition and Western painting. Foujita, Gutai, Kusama, Murakami and Nara then move this story onto the international scene.
Ink, line, color, material and time.
The brush and the void
Ink as structure, breath and thought
In Japanese painting, emptiness is not an absence: it organizes distance, light and time. From Sesshû to literate painters like Taiga, Buson or Gyokudô, the variation of ink allows us to unite observation of the landscape, calligraphy and inner experience.
Workshops, schools and printed images
Kanô, Rinpa and ukiyo-e: three savings of the eye
The Kanô school works for warrior powers, Rinpa transforms nature and literature into settings, while ukiyo-e responds to the urban market of Edo. Screens, scrolls, books and prints are not simple supports: they determine the way in which the image circulates and is told.
The ranking criteria
Influence, invention, preserved works and international scope
The rank combines historical importance, the originality of the language, the quality of the preserved ensembles and the influence on subsequent generations. It brings together ink masters, ukiyo-e artists, nihonga and yoga painters, women artists and contemporary figures in order to restore the real plurality of Japanese painting.
The Top 10
Ten masters who made Japanese painting universal
Hokusai, Hiroshige, Sesshû, Utamaro and Foujita open a summit where ink, print, decor and modernity respond to each other.
#1
Katsushika Hokusai
Hokusai makes Mount Fuji a laboratory of shapes where the wave, the wind and daily life respond to each other. Kanagawa's Great Wave, Red Fuji and Hokusai Manga sum up the inexhaustible curiosity of his drawing.
See the Katsushika Hokusai collection
#2
Utagawa Hiroshige
Hiroshige transforms Japan's roads into sensitive experiences, attentive to rain, snow and changes in light. The Fifty-three Stations of Tokaido and the Hundred Views of Edo have profoundly renewed the art of printed landscape.
See the Utagawa Hiroshige collection
#3
Sesshu Tokyo
Sesshû gives the ink landscape a monumental framework without ever stifling the void. From the Landscape of the Four Seasons to the View of Ama-no-Hashidate, his brush combines observation, calligraphic energy and Zen meditation.
See the Sesshû Tôyo collection
#4
Kitagawa Utamaro
Utamaro brings faces together and isolates gestures to make female portraiture an art of psychological nuance. Three Beauties of Our Time and his physiognomy studies show how a few lines can suggest a presence.
See the Kitagawa Utamaro collection
#5
Toshusai Sharaku
Active for an exceptionally brief period, Sharaku grabs kabuki actors as the role cracks the social mask. His portraits of Otani Oniji III or Segawa Kikunojo III are striking with their tense expressions and angular silhouettes.
See the Tôshûsai Sharaku collection
#6
Utagawa Kuniyoshi
Kuniyoshi constructs images full of movement where warriors, monsters and animals become the heroes of a popular theater. Takiyasha the Witch and the Hundred and Eight Heroes of Suikoden reveal her spectacular sense of storytelling.
See the Utagawa Kuniyoshi collection
#7
Ogata Korin
Kôrin reduces irises, plum trees and waves to great colorful rhythms deployed on the gold. Its screens combine asymmetry, economy of drawing and decorative power with a modernity that continues to influence graphics.
See the Ogata Kôrin collection
#8
Maruyama Okyo
Okyo bases his style on direct observation while retaining the scale of the great Japanese settings. The Pines under the snow, the Ghost of Oyuki and his famous puppies show his ease between realism, atmosphere and narration.
See the Maruyama Okyo collection
#9
Ito Jakuchu
Jakuchû observes birds, fish and plants with almost visionary meticulousness. The colorful Kingdom of Living Beings combines naturalistic precision, intense colors and bold compositions that give each species a unique presence.
See the Ito Jakuchû collection
#10
Tsugouharu Foujita
Foujita combines the precision of Japanese lines with the white backgrounds and nudes of the School of Paris. The Reclining Nude with toile de Jouy, Café and his self-portraits with a cat illustrate an immediately identifiable elegance.
Read Tsugouharu Foujita's biography on WikipediaChapter I · Ranks 11 to 25
Rinpa, Kanô, ukiyo-e and transition to Meiji
Sôtatsu, Tôhaku, Eitoku, Hôitsu, Harunobu, Kyôsai and Yoshitoshi show how Japanese schools are constantly renewing their formats.
#11
Tawaraya Sotatsu
Sôtatsu organizes figures, waves and clouds into large flat areas which give the classic story a new lease of life. The Wind God and Thunder God screen has become one of the founding images of the Rinpa aesthetic.
See the Tawaraya Sôtatsu collection
#12
Hasegawa Tohaku
Tôhaku makes the trees emerge from a fog where emptiness becomes the real subject of the painting. The Pine Forest demonstrates how a limited ink range can create depth, silence and atmospheric movement.
See the Hasegawa Tôhaku collection
#13
Kano Eitoku
Eitoku adapts Kanô painting to the scale of castles and military residences of the Momoyama era. Chinese lions, cypresses and urban views display a visual authority designed for architecture against a golden background.
See the Kanô Eitoku collection
#14
Sakai Hoitsu
Hoitsu renews Kôrin's heritage with a lighter sensitivity to seasons, flowers and herbs. Summer and autumn plants bring the back of an old screen into dialogue with a supple and silvery plant world.
See the Sakai Hoitsu collection
#15
Suzuki Harunobu
Harunobu helps impose the polychrome nishiki-e print through delicate harmonies and intimate scenes. His young women under the snow or sheltered by an umbrella transform daily gestures into visual poetry.
See the Suzuki Harunobu collection
#16
Utagawa Toyokuni
Toyokuni clearly fixes the poses, costumes and characters of Edo's kabuki stars. His portraits of actors and beauty series set up a lasting graphic model for the Utagawa school.
See the Utagawa Toyokuni collection
#17
Keisai Eisen
Eisen combines the sometimes melancholy elegance of courtesans with a precise attention to Edo fashion. His participation in the Sixty-nine Stations of Kisokaidô also reveals a remarkable talent as a landscaper.
See the Keisai Eisen collection
#18
Hishikawa Moronobu
Moronobu helps make Edo's urban life a standalone subject for the printed image. Beauty turning around, the scenes of the Yoshiwara and its illustrated books lay the graphic foundations of ukiyo-e.
See the Hishikawa Moronobu collection
#19
Torii Kiyonaga
Kiyonaga inscribes his slender figures in streets, baths and gardens built with great spatial mastery. His walks along the Sumida combine social observation and monumental balance.
See the Torii Kiyonaga collection
#20
Kawanabe Kyosai
Kyôsai moves with fierce virtuosity from the study of a crow to demon parades and political satire. His quick brush gives animals and ghosts a vitality that is as funny as it is disturbing.
See the Kawanabe Kyôsai collection
#21
Kobayashi Kiyochika
Kiyochika observes the bridges, trains and modern lighting of a changing Tokyo. His nocturnal views use shadows and reflections to transform urban progress into a melancholy spectacle.
See the Kobayashi Kiyochika collection
#22
Tsukioka Yoshitoshi
Yoshitoshi pushes the ukiyo-e narrative towards a new psychological intensity on the threshold of the Meiji era. One Hundred Aspects of the Moon and its series of ghosts alternate violence, poetry and refined mastery of color.
See the Tsukioka Yoshitoshi collection
#23
Tomioka Test
Tessai claims the scholarly freedom of the literate painter in a Japan engaged in modernization. Its mountainous landscapes and its encounters with immortals combine Chinese erudition, travel memories and vigorous gestures.
See the Tomioka Testa collection
#24
Yokoyama Taikan
Taikan frees the nihonga from the traditional outline through passages of mist and color that unify the space. Metempsychosis and its countless views of Mount Fuji give the landscape a spiritual and national significance.
Read Yokoyama Taikan's biography on Wikipedia
#25
Takeuchi Seiho
Seihô renews animal painting thanks to flexible observation enriched by his European journey. Lion, Tiger Cat and Autumn Rain show how he reconciles the precision of life and the economy of the brush.
See the Takeuchi Seihô collectionChapter II · Ranks 26 to 50
Nihonga, yoga, Gutai and contemporary painting
From Shoen, Taiga and Buson to Kusama, Murakami and Nara, Japanese painting dialogues with the West while inventing its own ruptures.
#26
Uemura Shoen
Shoen represents women as concentrated subjects, bearers of an inner life and not as simple emblems of beauty. Jo-no-mai, Flame and Mother and Child combine restraint of gesture, psychological tension and mastery of nihonga.
See the Uemura Shoen collection
#27
Hishida Shunso
Shunso dissolves the contours in colored layers in order to renew the depth of the Japanese landscape. Black cat, Dead leaves and Twilight in spring reveal a silent atmosphere obtained by subtle transitions.
See the Hishida Shunso collection
#28
Hashimoto Gaho
Gahô ensures the transition between the discipline of the Kanô school and the modern teaching of nihonga. Dragon and tiger, like its moonlit landscapes, retain the strength of the line while opening the space to new research.
See the Hashimoto Gahô collection
#29
Kano Hôgai
Hôgai reinterprets Buddhist iconography with a powerful model at the moment when the old system of schools disappears. Kannon merciful mother combines spirituality, pictorial experimentation and monumental ambition.
See the Kanô Hôgai collection
#30
Watanabe Kazan
Kazan confronts Japanese portraiture with methods of observation from the West without renouncing literate culture. Takami Senseki's Portrait impresses with its attentive realism and the silent dignity of the model.
See the Watanabe Kazan collection
#31
Soga Shohaku
Shôhaku diverts ancient models with distorted faces, abrasive ink and willingly irreverent humor. The Eight Immortals of Wine and its dragons make eccentricity a true pictorial method.
See the Soga Shôhaku collection
#32
Ike no Taiga
Taiga freely adapts the landscapes of Chinese literate tradition to the rhythm of Japanese calligraphy. The Ten Amenities and his views of Mount Fuji favor the invention of the brush over the literal imitation of nature.
See the Ike no Taiga collection
#33
Yosa Buson
Buson circulates the conciseness of haiku in his scrolls, landscapes and haiga. The Ten Commodities and the illustration of Oku no Hosomichi show how an ink detail can open up a vast poetic space.
See the Yosa Buson collection
#34
Uragami Gyokudo
Gyokudô builds its mountains by a dense accumulation of features which gives the landscape an almost musical rhythm. Light snow on an icy village remains his most striking masterpiece for its tension between material and silence.
See the Uragami Gyokudô collection
#35
Kuroda Seiki
Kuroda introduced academic oil teaching and outdoor practice acquired in France to Japan. At the edge of the lake and the triptych Wisdom, Impression, Feeling give the yoga a new institutional ambition.
See the Kuroda Seiki collection
#36
Asai Chu
Asai made the landscape observed on the motif one of the foundations of modern Western painting in Japan. From Spring Harvest to the Village of Grez-sur-Loing, his attentive touch connects Japanese countryside and European experience.
See the Asai Chû collection
#37
Aoki Shigeru
Aoki transposes the myths and the Sea of Japan into a fiery oil painting, close to symbolism. The Gift of the Sea combines body, legend and color in a vision that is as brief as it is influential.
See the Aoki Shigeru collection
#38
Kishida Ryusei
Kishida pushes the realism of the yoga towards an almost metaphysical density. The successive portraits of his daughter Reiko, her Earth Slice and her self-portraits scrutinize faces and surfaces with the same intensity.
See the Kishida Ryûsei collection
#39
Yasui Sôtarô
Yasui constructs the portrait through broad color relationships nourished by Cézanne and the School of Paris. Portrait of Chin-Jung and Woman with a Kimono combine solidity of form, frankness of gaze and decorative elegance.
See the Yasui Sôtarô collection
#40
Umehara Ryuzaburo
Umehara vibrates the oil with generous material and colors capable of absorbing both Renoir and Japanese traditions. His nudes, views of Mount Asama and landscapes of Beijing celebrate the physical pleasure of painting.
Read the biography of Umehara Ryûzaburo on Wikipedia
#41
Higashiyama Kaii
Kaii transforms roads, forests and shores into spaces of contemplation where light seems to suspend time. White Road, Green Echo and Rising Tide impose a vision of nihonga that is both accessible and deeply meditative.
Read Higashiyama Kaii's biography on Wikipedia
#42
Ikuo Hirayama
Hirayama travels the Silk Road to paint the ancient circulations of Buddhism and preserve the memory of the sites. From Transmission of Buddhism to Hiroshima in flames, the landscape becomes a work of testimony.
Read Ikuo Hirayama's biography on Wikipedia
#43
Taro Okamoto
Okamoto opposes the conformism of totemic figures, explosive colors and energy from the avant-gardes. The Tower of the Sun and Myth of Tomorrow extend painting into architecture and public space.
Read Taro Okamoto's biography on Wikipedia
#44
Jiro Yoshihara
Yoshihara gives the Gutai group a simple and radical principle: create what never existed. Its painted circles, far from being mechanical signs, record the speed, material and concentration of the gesture.
Read Jiro Yoshihara's biography on Wikipedia
#45
Kazuo Shiraga
Shiraga hangs her body above the canvas and paints with her feet, making balance a pictorial force. Challenging Mud and Tenisei Shinken transform mud, pigment and movement into physical events.
Read Kazuo Shiraga's biography on Wikipedia
#46
Atsuko Tanaka
Tanaka translates the circuits of modern life into networks of colors, cables and sounds. Electric Dress, Work Bell and his luminous paintings abolish the boundary between object, performance and image.
Read Atsuko Tanaka's biography on Wikipedia
#47
Yayoi Kusama
Kusama uses polka dots and repetitions to give visible form to obsession and loss of body boundaries. From the Infinity Nets to the Infinity Mirror Rooms, his vocabulary connects painting, sculpture and an immersive environment.
Read Yayoi Kusama's biography on Wikipedia
#48
Takashi Murakami
Murakami brings together scholarly painting, manga and commercial circulation of images under the term Superflat. 727, Mr. DOB and Flowers use an attractive surface to question the relationship between popular culture and art history.
Read Takashi Murakami's biography on Wikipedia
#49
Yoshitomo Nara
Nara paints children with frontal eyes whose apparent simplicity conceals solitude, resistance and vulnerability. Knife Behind Back and Missing in Action have imposed these ambiguous figures on the contemporary imagination.
Read Yoshitomo Nara's biography on Wikipedia
#50
On Kawara
Kawara writes down each date according to a precise protocol and transforms the passage of time into painting. Today Series, I Got Up and One Million Years connect everyday existence on an almost cosmic scale.
Read On Kawara's biography on WikipediaSources and routes
Extend the visit to Japanese painting
Japanese painting transforms rhythm into space
From Sesshû ink to Foujita line, from Edo prints to Gutai gestures, each generation redefines the relationship between surface, movement and time. The Japanese image knows how to be monumental without losing the precision of detail.
To choose a reproduction, start from the desired atmosphere: the power of Hokusai, the rain of Hiroshige, the elegance of Utamaro, the gold of Kôrin, the silence of Tôhaku or the white line of Foujita.
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