Ukiyo-e: The Floating World

"Japanese art - we all had that in common"

-Vincent Van Gogh

I have to admit I was surprised I could recognized some Ukiyo-e works because when I stated reading about this genre, I was pretty sure I had never seen any piece of art that belongs to it.

I like when art remembers the simple things in life: the beauty of nature, the movement of the sea, the people you're surrounded by, the most common street, that bridge you always to cross to get home... I think Ukiyo-e is one the best portraying these simple -and usually ignored- kind of things that complete everybody's life. Also, I think it is really interesting that such an important genre has its origins on the cheap and despised market of Japanese art; this genre comes from average people mass-producing a series of pretty images! No high class Japanese man or woman would have considered these prints high art, but they scaled to created an important genre not only in Japan or Asia, but in the whole world... just amazing!

My favourite Ukiyo-e piece