Becoming Superflat

How does Murakami blend high and low art in one of his most iconic works?

September 2024

Kimberly Feltes Taylor

By the time Takashi Murakami earned his doctoral degree in nihonga painting in 1993, he was frustrated by the idea of high art. Why, he wondered, didn’t critics and collectors see anime and manga—which he devoured as a kid—as being as worthy as any painting in a museum? This frustration helped lead Murakami to create the Superflat aesthetic, which he introduced in 2000. His goal was to “flatten” the divide between high art and popular culture.

In 1996, just a few years before Murakami introduced the concept of Superflat, he completed his now iconic 727, above. It illustrates the artist’s experiments with flattening his work—visually and conceptually.

The wave is a traditional subject in Japanese art. The curling foam in Murakami’s 727 is reminiscent of The Great Wave Off Kanagawa, below. The famous print, completed by Katsushika Hokusai (kat-soo-shee-kah hok-u-sai) between 1830 and 1832, is an example of high art.

Murakami also references high art with his use of nihonga techniques. He builds up and sands down more than 20 layers of paint to create the textured background. Then he defines the wave with a clear outline.

When I was little, I would [watch anime]. Though I knew those worlds weren’t real, I desperately kept reconstructing them in my head as real.” —Takashi Murakami

The triptych—a composition on three panels—recalls the traditional folding screen, which has been used in Japan for centuries to create private spaces.

The central figure, Mr. DOB, is a character inspired by anime and manga—two pop culture, or “low,” art forms in Japan.

Murakami renders Mr. DOB in bright, flat colors, with a round face and ears. He has a cute quality, called kawaii. But his wide smile filled with sharp teeth suggests he might play a more dangerous role.

The traditional wave and nihonga-inspired background refer to high art. Mr. DOB points to pop culture. By juxtaposing these ideas, Murakami collapses high art and consumerism, past and present into a single visual plane.