Sudden Shower over Shin-Ōhashi Bridge

Sudden Shower over Shin-Ōhashi Bridge and Atake captures pedestrians caught in a downpour, their figures bent against driving rain as they hurry across a wooden bridge. Created in 1857 by Utagawa Hiroshige, this print from "One Hundred Famous Views of Edo" became one of the most influential Japanese images in Western art.

Van Gogh painted an oil copy of this print, fascinated by how diagonal rain lines and the flattened perspective created such immediate drama. Hiroshige achieved the rain effect by carving fine parallel lines into the block, printing them in gradated gray that darkens toward the top. The timber-laden rafts below the bridge add depth to the composition while figures on the bridge provide human scale.

The print demonstrates Hiroshige's ability to capture weather and atmosphere in ways Western artists found radical.