In 2021 Matti Sandberg conceived the idea of creating a series of erotic paintings inspired by the famous 36 Views of Mount Fuji by the master of Japanese artists active during the Edo period, Katsushika Hokusai, whose Great Wave off Kanagawa is one of the world’s most recognisable artworks.

Mount Fuji from the Inume Pass, Katsushika Hokusai

Hokusai, together with his contemporaries Hiroshige and Kuniyoshi, inspired European art movements including Impressionism and Art Nouveau, and it was specifically the Mount Fuji series that opened the eyes of western painters to Japanese art.

Two centuries after Hokusai published his first prints in his famous series depicting the holy mountain, Sandberg began work on a portfolio of his own personal erotic interpretations inspired by Mount Fuji. The imaginative and highly original series is still being created – here we show the first of them, and you can see and purchase new prints as they appear on the Two Cranes website, here.