Sea

Harue Koga was a Japanese avant-garde painter active from the 1910s to the early 1930s. He is considered to be one of the first and most representative Japanese surrealist painters.

The painting we present today, Sea, is Harue Koga’s most famous painting and the first Surrealist work created by an artist in Japan. Painted in a photomontage style, Koga used images from magazines, postcards, and newspapers, resizing and painting them with meticulous precision on a large canvas. It is an imaginary celebration of all the possibilities held out by a rapidly progressing society. A submarine, a factory, and a blimp represent industrialization; detailed depictions of fish and shrimp suggest scientific discovery; and a female bather represents leisure and sexuality. She is said to be painted from an image of Gloria Swanson, the American film actress. It is a modernism in a pure form; it is like a welcome message to the whole new world that was being born. 

Unfortunately, Harue Koga, so inspired by the new world, didn't experience much of it; he died in 1933, probably because of syphilis.

P.S. If you love depictions of the sea in art, you should check out our best-selling Sea, Ships & Beaches 50 Postcards Set!  :)

P.P.S. Harue Koga wasn't the only artists who struggled with sexually transmitted diseases. Meet 5 artists who likely suffered from syphilis! Some of these names might surprise you!