What Is Japonisme? How Ukiyo-e Influenced Monet and Van Gogh, and Related Exhibitions to See in Japan Now

“Japonisme” refers to the craze for Japanese art and crafts that swept Europe in the second half of the 19th century. The bold compositions, flat areas of color and crisp outlines of ukiyo-e gave Monet, Van Gogh and other Impressionist and Post-Impressionist painters new ways of seeing. Here are the key artists and works, and related exhibitions you can see in Japan now.

What is Japonisme?

After Japan opened its ports in the 1850s, Japanese artworks and crafts made their way to Europe, and the taste for things Japanese spread rapidly after Japan’s exhibits at the 1867 Paris Exposition Universelle. The term “Japonisme” is said to have been coined in 1872 by the French art critic Philippe Burty.

To eyes trained on academic painting, which valued realism and linear perspective, ukiyo-e felt fresh: compositions viewed from high above or with a hugely enlarged foreground, flat color without shading, and subjects drawn from everyday life and seasonal scenery. Besides ukiyo-e, ceramics, lacquerware, fans and folding screens were also collected.

Claude Monet: ukiyo-e on the walls at Giverny

Monet became familiar with ukiyo-e around 1864–65, in his mid-twenties, and collected prints at his house in Giverny, where he spent his later years. In the house, now open to the public, the dining room walls are hung with works such as Katsushika Hokusai’s “Under the Wave off Kanagawa” and prints by Utagawa Hiroshige. In “La Japonaise” (1876) he painted his wife Camille in a red kimono holding a fan, and the Japanese-style arched bridge and water-lily pond he created in his garden became major subjects of his later years.

In Japan, the immersive exhibition “Impressionist Monet and Ukiyo-e” runs at THE MOVEUM YOKOHAMA until March 31, 2027 (see our article). At the Pola Museum of Art in Hakone, “The New Vision,” an exhibition marking 100 years since Monet’s death that shows all 19 of the museum’s oil paintings by Monet, continues until April 7, 2027 (see our article on the exhibition).

Vincent van Gogh: the painter who collected and copied ukiyo-e

Van Gogh collected a large number of ukiyo-e while living in Paris from 1886 to 1888. In 1887 he copied Hiroshige’s “Plum Garden in Kameido” and “Sudden Shower over Shin-Ohashi Bridge and Atake” in oils, and painted “Courtesan” based on a print of a courtesan by Keisai Eisen. In “Père Tanguy” from the same year he lined the background with ukiyo-e, and in “Self-Portrait with Bandaged Ear” (1889) he painted a print of Mount Fuji and geisha in the background. Hiroshige’s life, major works and the museums where you can see them are covered in our guide to Utagawa Hiroshige.

His later move to Arles in the south of France is said to have been driven by his image of it as a bright land like Japan. The Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam still holds the ukiyo-e that Van Gogh himself collected.

In Japan, “Van Gogh’s Drawbridge and the Impressionists” runs at the Nagoya City Art Museum until November 29 (see our article on the exhibition), and “The Great Van Gogh Exhibition: The Langlois Bridge at Arles” opens at the Kobe City Museum on February 6, 2027 (see our article on the exhibition). In Ariake, Tokyo, “RÊVE DES LUMIÈRES” presents Van Gogh’s works in a roughly 40-minute immersive program (see our article on the venue).

Degas, Whistler and Debussy, too

The influence of Japanese art went beyond Monet and Van Gogh. Edgar Degas is said to have drawn inspiration from the movements of figures in “Hokusai Manga,” and the influence of Hiroshige’s bridge compositions has been noted in James McNeill Whistler’s nocturnes of the Thames and its bridges. The cover of the first edition of the score of Debussy’s “La Mer” used “Under the Wave off Kanagawa.” The magazine “Le Japon artistique,” published from 1888 to 1891 by the art dealer Siegfried Bing, also helped introduce Japanese art and influenced Art Nouveau.

Ukiyo-e “returns” to Paris: Ukiyo-e Immersive Art Exhibition PARIS

From March 19 to August 23, 2026, the “Ukiyo-e Immersive Art Exhibition PARIS” was held in a special tent in the Parc de la Villette in Paris, drawing more than 150,000 visitors in about five months. The exhibition animates works by Hokusai, Hiroshige and others with 3DCG and projection mapping, and the series’ cumulative attendance reached more than 700,000 across 11 cities (see our article on its closing).

In Japan, the “Ukiyo-e Immersive Art Exhibition GIFU” runs at the Gifu City Museum of History until January 11, 2027, and the permanent “Ukiyoe Immersive Art Museum GINZA” is scheduled to open in Ginza, Tokyo, in spring 2027. For the highlights of ukiyo-e masterpieces, see 12 famous ukiyo-e prints.

For Katsushika Hokusai, see our guide to his life, major works and the museums where you can see them.

Frequently asked questions

What is Japonisme?

It is the craze for Japanese art and crafts in late-19th-century Europe and the influence it had on Western art. Japan’s exhibits at the 1867 Paris Exposition Universelle were a major trigger, and ukiyo-e had a particularly strong influence on the Impressionists.

Which ukiyo-e did Van Gogh copy?

In 1887, he copied “Plum Garden in Kameido” and “Sudden Shower over Shin-Ohashi Bridge and Atake” from Hiroshige’s “One Hundred Famous Views of Edo” in oils. He also painted “Courtesan” based on a print by Keisai Eisen.

What was Monet’s connection to ukiyo-e?

Monet became familiar with ukiyo-e in the mid-1860s and collected prints at his house in Giverny. Works by Hokusai and Hiroshige hang in the dining room, and the influence of Japanese art can be seen in works such as “La Japonaise” (1876) and his paintings of the Japanese-style bridge and water-lily pond.

Can I see exhibitions related to Japonisme in Japan?

“Impressionist Monet and Ukiyo-e” runs at THE MOVEUM YOKOHAMA until March 31, 2027, the Van Gogh exhibition at the Nagoya City Art Museum runs until November 29, and “The Great Van Gogh Exhibition” opens at the Kobe City Museum on February 6, 2027.

A note from the publisher

*Disclosure: The “Ukiyo-e Immersive Art Exhibition” and the “Ukiyoe Immersive Art Museum GINZA” introduced in this article are, respectively, an event planned and produced by, and a facility produced by, HITOHATA, INC., an affiliate of HITOHATA ASSOCIATION, the general incorporated association that operates TOKYO ART SPHERE (About us).

For the latest information on events by HITOHATA, INC., see HITOHATA, INC.’s event page.

*Top image: Ukiyo-e Immersive Art Exhibition PARIS (from a press release by HITOHATA, INC.)

*This article was compiled by the TOKYO ART SPHERE editorial team based on official announcements from museums and organizers (as of November 9, 2026) and general art-historical knowledge of Japonisme.