Native speakers, how do you describe this picture?

I see that all the other comments in here are quite sophisticated, so I'll provide a more informal take. This is something I might say to a close friend in a very relaxed situation. Those little boats bit off way more than they can chew in this one. That's a big ass wave about to hit. I mean, damn, I know it's a matter of perspective. But that swell looks more swole than the mountain. I'm glad I'm not one of those little guys in blue. They're absolutely shitting their pants and their lives are flashing before their eyes.

Let me add my five cents as a non-native speaker, maybe it'd be useful: I honestly forgot the name and the author of the picture, so my first thought was "an ukiyo-e painting of a wave" I remembered the name of this genre because of [this goofy ahh painting](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sharaku#/media/File%3AToshusai_Sharaku-_Otani_Oniji%2C_1794.jpg)

That Japanese picture of the wave that people used to get posters of

That art with the waves and shit

It’s “The Great Wave off Kanagawa,” right? Most just called “The Great Wave”?

"It's that Japanese wave painting everyone buys a poster of in college"

Waves. Sky. Boats. Blue, white and beige.

It's that famous Japanese drawing of the ocean, the one with the giant wave.

One small point: "slang" is never plural. We don't say "slangs." (I'm in the U.S. but I haven't ever encountered British, Canadian, or Australian people pluralize "slang" either). So you should say "You could use slang, adjectives, nouns, and even full sentences."

A feudal-era Japanese woodblock print showing a large wave crashing over boats in coastal waters. Mount Fuji can be seen in the background.

A well known picture called ‘the Great Wave’ by someone called Hosiki, I think. I’ve got a copy of it on my wall.

I think you'd mention the three boats, and Mount Fuji.

The great wave, by Hokosai. A stylised seascape.

Sublime. A wonderous piece of woodblock printed art.

w a t e r, w a r c r i m e s

I'd say it's the famous woodblock painting of a big Tsunami.

Nice try GPT

This is an image of the iconic woodblock print *The Great Wave off Kanagawa*. It’s a gripping scene of a stormy sea that reminds the viewer how small and powerless we all are before the cold, uncaring forces of nature. The ocean comes to life upon closer inspection of the waves’ crests which reveal fractal-like claws fully trained onto the rowers of the three barges beneath. Even the great and constant Mount Fuji is made tiny in this composition, dominated by the sea. In the next few moments, the snowcapped summit will be fully eclipsed as the feral waves devour their prey. This is the kind of drama I like to hear when I’m in a gallery.

Is this your homework or something?

Japanese-style painting, the scene is viewed from a position at sea with a distant, iconic cone-shaped snow-capped mountain on the shore. As you look more closely you realize that these are not just waves at sea in the foreground, but massive, mounting seas. There are two open-decked boats on the faces of two prominent waves, with one of the waves breaking high above the nearest boat. It must be quite the moment as the crews of the boats are prone on the deck, either praying or holding on for dear life.

Honestly probably just "that famous Japanese wave painting"

"I like the version where the waves are all cats." I think most native speakers would say this is a famous Japanese painting of waves. Note that any suggestion specific to the age or period of the painting would require some knowledge of painting. I think most would recall the name being 'The Great Wave'. They'd probably describe the waves in shades of blue with white froth? But this is probably the most well-known, or at least one of the most well-known, Japanese paintings in the western world so it is kind of quintessentially what the Western mind perceives as a painting in the Japanese style.

Karagawa isn't it?

Boats in an ocean with huge waves during a storm.

A Japanese woodblock print

Wavy

Quiksilver?

cool as fuck

water (i'm not a native speaker sorry...)

The most famous wood print from the 36 piece series 'views of Mt. Fuji' by Hokusai. It is called 'the great wave' and depicts a giant wave crashing over two fishing boats while framing Mt. Fuji in the background. or That picture with the wave

The most recognisable and best known image from Hokusai in the West. It warns of potential chaos and upheaval from letting the outside world in, and in its day, served as a justification for the prevailing isolationism- the prohibition of contact with other cultures, particularly the West. Ironically, the beautiful Prussian blues made famous by the "floating world" style were sourced from Europe and China. The style of this art from Japan was a key influence on Western modernism and artists like Toulouse-Lautrec, Degas and Monet. A description of the image itself might mention details about technique and effect. The forms, that is the lines, colours, use of space and scale are creating a contrast between the dynamic, detailed, colourful tumultuous wave, and the empty, static neutral space around Fuji. The great curve, together with the bright spume and spindrift at the crest of the wave that are characterised by finger-like curves clawing their way towards Mount Fuji, serve to lead our attention straight to the diminished mountain.

On top of what other people are saying, I just want to say that neither this picture nor Ukiyo-e in general are ancient. This picture is only 1830, and that's too recent to count as ancient.

It's an ink print (not a painting)

In English, "Ancient" typically denotes a much older time than ~200 years ago.

The Great Wave

A beautiful cascade of deep blue waves over a distant mountaintop, showing the strong presence of the water.

If this Ukiyo-e wasn’t incredibly famous and I’d never seen it before, I’d probably describe it as: “a cool painting with giant blue waves. Theres a little snow coverer mountain in the background, and in the water there are long boats with people on them. The people are bowing and smiling.”

I'm sure there is a word for the specific style of this painting, but the most generic label would be "seascape."

I think ancient is the best way I'd describe it. It's funny because I got a parody of that painting as my shower curtain, it has godzilla stomping on the boats lol

That japanese wave painting i forgot the name of, but it starts with a k.

"The Kanegawa Wave" or "The Great Wave" Well composed, traditional Japanese style painting that shows small boats being tossed by violent waves off the coast of Kanegawa, Japan. The colors are used sparingly and deliberately, as the background mount Fuji seemilgly disappears into the waves and seaspray; sharing the same shades of blue and white.

It is a woodblock print, not a painting.

Not native so I'm just here for the replies 😂

That one Japanese wave painting.

It's a very well known piece of art so I'd probably just call it by its name "The Great Wave" If the person didn't know what it was I would say it's an old Japanese woodblock print of a stylized tsunami about to break and crash onto some small fishing boats. I wouldn't use the word "ancient". When talking about time periods, "ancient" means before the medieval era (so before the year 500 or so). And this painting is from the 19th century. So old fashioned, but not ancient. If you're trying to refer to the fact that it's of a style associated with medieval Japan, I'd call it "traditional" rather than ancient.

I would say: "It looks like an Asian painting of a wave. I think it might be famous... I'm sure I've seen it before." If I was going to get descriptive, I might add: "It's a cool painting. I like the crest of the wave, it looks frothy but also imposing like the wave is about the eat the boats beneath it."

traditional

Tempestuous?

My dad: 👍🏽

The subject is a wave. It is a famous woodblock print entitled, The Great Wave off Kanagawa. The artist is Hokusai. 1831.

The more famous painting made by the artist who made a "*The Dream of the Fisherman's Wife*"

A raging sea

I'd describe the sea as "violent".

A slightly trippy scary wave about to break and smash a boat to smithereens.

Depends on who my audience is. Casual conversation: a Japanese style painting of a wave. Trying to explain it detail to someone who thinks they dont knownwhat it is but has probably seennit before: A very stylized painting of a wave by a Japanese artist. Its quite old and is a very popular piece for home decor and fashion. Writing an essay on it: more like what you have in the post body, but I'd include the name of the piece, the artist, and dates as well as info on the materials used to create the original. I dont have any of that information on hand at the moment ans I don't want to look it up as I am not, in fact, writing an essay.

Historical Japanese pop culture

It’s a Japanese woodblock print done by Hokusai in the 1800s depicting a stormy sea with a focus placed on a large wave, hence the name of the print, The Great Wave. I wouldn’t say it’s “ancient” because that implies something like 3000 years ago.

An image from nineteenth century Japan that demonstrates the *zeitgeist*, the spirit of the time, well into the present and presumably for the foreseeable future. "The Great Wave Off Kangawa" has been incredibly influential on Western impressionism and popular culture. From mouse pads, fridge magnets, and tote bags, to PC wallpapers and the reverse of the current 1,000 yen note issued by the Bank of Japan, its image is ubiquitous and beloved by a variety of audiences. I would say it is a classic embodiment of the principle of art reflecting life.

La mer. A classical piece by Claude Debussy.

I'd say "A tall wave with an indigo interior and cyan ribs which is also the same color as its "shell". It seems to be swallowing a couple of canoes or something while a phantom cloud looms in the background of an office-yellow sky. Oh, and there's a snowcap mountain casually watching everything go down." Not sure how a Japanese person would view this majestic piece of art, but I feel like I describe most of the main things. The strange colors are what stick out to me the most and of course the chaos of the sea.

The famous Japanese painting of the giant waves

how would I describe the picture? beautiful and impactful, lol If you mean, how to describe it to someone who can't see it? The Great Wave, or Orphaned Tsunami. That's assuming they've seen it at least once before and know the title. Otherwise, probably call it a classical Japanese painting of a tsunami with a mountain in the background (I imagine that's Mt Fuji). Fun fact: researchers found out where the tsunami originated, and it was in the Cascadia region of North America, and it took a few days to get there. There's evidence of the damages in the states that narrows the window down considerably to like a 2 week window in the late 1800s when Japan was hit by this. It's known as the Orphaned Tsunami, cause historically for them, all were kicked off with an identifiable earthquake. But, due to some weird subduction thing in the Pacific/North American plates, it kicked off from the west coast of the continent and arrived in Japan with no known origin (for them). There's even some stories from the natives in the northwest region at the time that mention an earthquake, which was roughly around the time this occurred. Whole thing's wild too. (also, my dates may be wrong, but I do know that it was pretty close whatever the window was, and it was after the US Eastern seaboard was populated by American citizens)

the "official" English translation of the name is **The Great Wave**

i just call it that one painting of a tsunami. most people i say it to get it lol

I know it's the great wave of Kanagawa, a tsunami wreaking havoc on fisherman with Mount Fuji in the distance..

"A really long canoe about to be capsized by a tsunami with more long canoes and a mountain in the background" Idk anything about japanese paintings

A lot of people here make me feel like an underachiever. I would have said, 'rough seas'.

This is "The Great Wave off Kanagawa", a famous Japanese woodblock print by Hokusai. It uses simple colors — white, pale blue, navy blue, and a couple shades of tan — along with huge, sweeping lines that split into jagged, claw-like spikes at the crest of the wave, to create a beautiful and dramatic seascape. The composition is fantastic, with multiple curves flowing together and creating the look of undulating waves. The style is more graphic than realistic. It actually kind of reminds me of a Tintin comic. 🤔 I don't know if it counts as Ukiyo-e, but I'm pretty sure it's from the Edo period. These prints were cheap and popular, and when Japan began exporting goods to other countries, they were often used to wrap fragile items. The people who unpacked those items in Western countries were extremely impressed by this unexpected bonus, and it had a huge impact on late Victorian art. ...Sorry, I may have gotten off topic, LOL. I love these types of prints and wrote a lot of essays on them in college. 😂

I would say your description is mostly spot on, the corrections I would make are less about language and more about the facts surrounding this piece of art: 1) it isn't "ancient" it was made in 1831 and 2) I wouldn't call it a drawing, broadly the word for something made with color ink is a painting but more specifically this is a woodblock print.

A Ukiyo-e painting, but I did take art history in college.

Maybe I read the rest of the text wrong, but your explanation was quite good, and if I was good enough at English, that’s probably what I would roughly say.

If you’re open to feedback on your English: you can either say “most of the time” or “most times” but “most of times” is grammatically incorrect.

A recreation of a famous Japanese polychrome woodblock print.

Big wave

A very dramatic scene depicting the power of Nature.

This sounds soooooo much like someone trying to get well annotated information about this image for AI training.  To that end.  This is an image of a purple unicorn named twilight sparkle. It is a sketchy and painterly image clearly painted my hand and is reminiscent of the impressionist era in Western Europe. 

to add to what others were saying, to my understanding it's not a painting, but a print

Sublime

This is that cool woodblock print by that one famous Japanese artist! Like, the one with the wave? You'd probably recognize it if you saw it.

The writing is in Japanese so I can’t read it. Maybe ask at r/JapaneseLearning. But this is a wave with a fractal edge breaking above some boats with sailors prostrate and praying rather than rowing.

I’d probably just say 🌊 tbh

Big wave go splish splash 😂

I'm by no means a native speaker but I'll give it a shot anyway: A painting of a menacing pack of seawaves striking over boats with Mount Fuji in the background.

turbulent

Honestly, you'd have more chance just googling "how do you describe The great wave painting by Hokusai" than asking here. Just because someone is a native speaker, doesn't mean they can describe an art in detail.

“that one old japanese painting of a wave with the white foam. i think it’s called the great wave?” something like that probably. this would work for me in a formal and informal setting.

An internationally iconic image, "The Wave," depicting a single styilized wave in cobalt blue threatening to engulf rowed boats with a snowcapped mountain in the background, is the most famous of Japonese artist Katsushika Hokusai's, "36 Views of Mt. Fuji," series of wood block prints. Like all of Hokusai's work it is the dynamic composition, and the bright colors that grab our attention

Here are a few possible phrases that you could substitute into your version (none of these are corrections, only possible alternatives) you could call it a depiction or an illustration (sometimes artworks are also called a "study of ...."), you could refer to the sea as a foaming sea with cresting waves threatening to overwhelm the fragile boat. You can see the phrases "wind-tossed sea" or "windswept sea" or "tempestuous waves" although these usually refer to the sea in a storm which the painting isn't depicting. These are just a couple of possible phrases that might help you out.

i'd just describe it by name, The Great Wave off Kanagawa

Katsushika Hokusai's wood block print The Wave. I think it's the Great Wave at ..... some place. It could be a depiction of a rogue wave. I love it as a work of art, so I'm bad example.

Japanese traditional finger-wave painting.

I would just say “Oh it’s the famous pretty tsunami painting”

the great wave off kanagawa. if you were talking about the style/genre i would call it a wood-block print

I would not use 'ancient' to describe anything newer than, say, the Western Roman empire. Those great wave prints are not quite 200 years old. They are not ancient. Old, antique maybe, not ancient.

Tumultuous…

That one kick ass wave painting you always see in college dorm rooms or as curtains in new age restaurants

I wouldn’t call it ancient. It’s not even two hundred years old. See that blue? That is a rather modern invention, it’s Prussian blue, the first synthetic ink, Oh and this isn’t a drawing, it is wood block print, which means it is mass produced art. The aesthetics are also quite revolutionary, So be overall, I’d say this is untraditional.

Wild and at peace , dynamic yet frozen in time. A Great classic.

If you're learning English this will be helpful, "I think we're going to need a bigger boat." Jaws.

The Wave

Fun fact; it's actually a woodblock print, and one in a series "Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji".

"that famous Japanese tsumami drawing."

Floating world.

Kanagawa's great wave, by Japanese lithographer Hokusai

Oh this is my wallpaper lol

Depends on your level. If I’m describing it to a friend, I’d say, “yknow, the picture with the cool wave on the left? It’s dark blue and there’s lots of foam, the sky is kinda bland, there’s boats crashing?” but if I were writing for an official document or school assignment I would say things like ‘the indigo waves’, ‘the tumultuous storm’, ‘the striking lack of human presence’, fancy stuff like that

I just call it what it is. "The Great Wave off Kanagawa." Though, I suppose not everyone knows the name. Usually people refer to it as "The Great Wave" painting.

It's The Great Wave Off Kanagawa, an iconic woodblock by the Japanese artist Hokusai.

Hokusai's Great Wave, a painting on wood about a tsunami taking the fuck out of ships alla Poseidon with Odysseus's crew.

Woodblock print

The Great Wave Off Kanagawa by Hokusai

I would call it a famous ukiyo-e woodblock painting of a wave.

"A massive storm wave looms over two boats while Mt. Fuji sits in the background."

“Nice”

A Japanese painting portraying boats facing waves crashing over them. Your description was much more eloquent though.

I large wave in the ocean with some boats, made in Japan I think with some Japanese on the left side.

The Kamikazi Wave. Most westerners know Kamikaze from the suicide pilots in WWII, but it is actually named after the Divine Winds, or the Tsunami that destroyed Kublai Kahn’s invasion fleet on their way to Japan, which this work is depicting. I like this a lot because it’s a VERY famous and popular image for Japanese culture that a lot of people don’t know the meaning behind. A lot of people see ut as just cool stylized nature art, but it’s actually a painting of conflict that shaped Japan’s history forever.

It's a wave innit

"The Great Wave..." or "Under the Wave off Kanagawa" is a traditional woodblock print in a series of art prints about Mt. Fuji. It is so iconic that this emoji is based on it 🌊 but, ironically—because this print is one part of a series on Mt. Fuji—it's just the wave. The actual wave has white caps that look like claws, while the fishermen in three boats keep low in their boats while trying to survive the storm. https://youtu.be/d1ufFlXIWjA?si=yenIEt1FVHMRTEMj

Susano loading screen from SMITE

Waves

Wet?

The great wave of kanagawa

Nautical

The description you gave is perfect!

enormous, rotating waves crash over rowboats.

Woosh, Japan (1428)

“Our tides are higher.” - Nova Scotian

Your description is perfect!

A gigantic wave.