Man in lendendoek, een doos en een muis c. 1700 - 1900

Katsushika Hokusai made "Man in Lendendoek, een doos en een muis" with pen in brown ink on paper. The work presents a scene dominated by spare lines and dramatic gestures, revealing an immediate sense of unease and imbalance. The angular pose of the figure, combined with the stark contrast of the ink, evokes a sense of anxiety, setting up an opposition between the human form and rigid geometry of the box. Hokusai masterfully uses asymmetry to destabilize the composition. The lines of the figure’s limbs, rendered with minimal detail, intersect with the right angles of the box and surrounding objects, creating tension. We can view this tension through a structuralist lens, interpreting the mouse, box, and man as signs within a larger cultural code. Is Hokusai challenging fixed meanings or engaging with new ways of thinking about space? Is he questioning the viewer’s role in constructing meaning from these elements? Consider the figure's expressive posture, which is not merely representational, but also a formal device that emphasizes the instability and absurdity of the scene. Hokusai encourages us to see art as a site of ongoing interpretation, where the aesthetic and the philosophical intersect.