I have a beautifully bound book of the paintings of Edo by Hiroshige I found a few years ago. Since that acquisition, I have grown fond of the style of Hiroshige. He is an artist in the ukiyo-e style, or woodblock prints of daily life from 1800s Japan. The composition style is quite different from contemporary western works. A lot of Hiroshige’s works can be found online as part of the public domain. Wikipedia has a number of images in its gallery.

Vincent van Gogh drew stylistic inspiration from the works of Hiroshige. Below are nearly identical paintings by van Gogh (right) and Hiroshige (left). Many of van Gogh’s paintings have composition reminiscent of the ukiyo-e style.

Below are three of my favorite paintings from “one hundred famous views of Edo”.