The Great Wave Off Kanagawa belongs to which art period?

• A. Edo period
• B. Renaissance
• C. Baroque
• D. Romanticism

Answer: (A)

This work is from the Edo period in Japan, created around 1830–1833 by Hokusai as part of the ukiyo-e woodblock print tradition. The Edo period (roughly 1603–1868) was when these affordable, visually bold landscapes and everyday scenes flourished for a growing urban audience. The Great Wave Off Kanagawa showcases that style with strong outlines, flat fields of color, and a dramatic portrayal of nature, with Mount Fuji appearing in the distance. The other options are European movements from different times and places—Renaissance and Baroque earlier in history, and Romanticism as a later European reaction to nature and emotion—so they don’t fit the cultural and historical context of this Japanese print.