Various copies of the original print can be found in collections around the world, including the Tokyo National Museum, the British Museum in London, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam. The Great Wave is ubiquitous, adorning innumerable products. In Japan itself it appears on both the Japanese passport and the 1000 yen banknote. It even exists as an emoji, sealing its cult status as a piece of popular art.

Katsushika Hokusai's genius is evident in his sophisticated technique, his mastery of composition and understanding of the natural world. His work The Great Wave off Kanagawa (Kanagawa oki nami ura) was the culmination of his 30-year-long preoccupation with the theme of the wave. The drama of the scene with its thrilling composition and elegant stylisation is unsurpassed. In this work of art, Hokusai blends tradition and innovation, combining the age-old Japanese woodblock printing technique with Prussian blue, a pigment imported from Germany and scarcely available in Japan at the time. With its remarkable intensity of colour, this new fade-resistant blue significantly enhances the dramatic effect of the waves.

Hokusai learnt the craft of woodcutting in his youth. As paintings were practically unaffordable in Japan, the printing technique of the woodcut offered an affordable alternative, enabling the so-called Pictures of the Floating World (ukiyo-e) to achieve unparalleled distribution and popularity. Pursuing his great passion for painting, Hokusai studied under various masters, familiarised himself with Dutch landscape painting and acquired an extraordinary knowledge of European central and linear perspective. With his astute observations and affectionate nod to everyday lives, Hokusai depicted almost the entire range of life in  Japan over the course of his career. Today, he is considered one of the most important cultural mediators between Japan and the Western world. Hokusai created around 30,000 works of art and his sketches are regarded as the forerunners of today's manga, the Japanese comics.

The Collector’s Item grand piano in size 214VC is limited to 16 instruments worldwide. This number references the Kiku no gomon seal of the Japanese Imperial Court, a stylized chrysanthemum with 16 petals. Each individual instrument features an individually numbered plaque.

The Bösendorfer grand piano The Great Wave off Kanagawa is our homage to a unique Japanese masterpiece. The image is as timeless – and intuitively relatable to – as music itself. It vividly illustrates the complex relationship between nature and humankind, and the immense importance of cross-cultural exchange. It is in the understanding of one another’s uniqueness, that we achieve both mutual inspiration and personal development, ultimately benefitting us all.