![Utagawa Hiroshige, Kawasaki: The Village of Namamugi on the Tsurumi River, no. 3 from the series Collection of Illustrations of Famous Places near the Fifty-Three Stations [Along the Tōkaidō], 1855](https://iiif.micr.io/VQtrX/full/2000,/0/default.webp)
![Utagawa Hiroshige, Fujikawa: The Village in the Mountains and the Mountain Traditionally Known as Miyajiyama, no. 38 from the series Collection of Illustrations of Famous Places near the Fifty-Three Stations [Along the Tōkaidō], 1855](https://iiif.micr.io/pRlNO/full/2000,/0/default.webp)
Utagawa Hiroshige, Fujikawa: The Village in the Mountains and the Mountain Traditionally Known as Miyajiyama, no. 38 from the series Collection of Illustrations of Famous Places near the Fifty-Three Stations [Along the Tōkaidō], 1855
Travelling the Tōkaidō
Throughout his career, Hiroshige produced series of prints depicting the 53 stations along the Tōkaidō.
This was the main travel and transport route linking Kyoto and Edo (modern-day Tokyo). Despite producing thousands of designs focusing on this theme, the master still managed to vary them. For example, by complementing the landscapes with depictions of the changeability of the seasons and the weather.
Van Gogh’s favourite?
Vincent van Gogh owned approximately 50 of Hiroshige’s landscapes. Hiroshige must have been one of his favourite printmakers because the saw the Southern French landscape through Hiroshige’s eyes. Van Gogh also copied two of his prints in oils: Bridge in the Rain and Flowering Plum Orchard
There are signs of Hiroshige’s prints being used in Van Gogh’s studio, such as paint stains and pinpricks, so it is clear that the prints directly inspired Van Gogh’s work.
Vincent van Gogh, Bridge in the Rain (after Hiroshige), 1887 and Hiroshige, Sudden Evening Shower on the Great Bridge near Atake, from the series One Hundred Views of Famous Places in Edo, 1857
Vincent van Gogh, Flowering Plum Orchard (after Hiroshige), 1887 and Hiroshige, The Residence with Plum Trees at Kameido, from the series One Hundred Views of Famous Places in Edo, 1857