While ukiyo-e entered the 19th century with a defined spirit and style, the artists of this era coaxed these “pictures of the floating world” from bud to bloom. As ukiyo-e enjoyed unprecedented popularity among Edo’s audiences, this period gave rise to some of the art form’s most iconic imagery. Artists such as Hokusai and Hiroshige captivated armchair-adventurers through their landscapes, Kunisada wove beauties and theatrical subjects within literature and history, and Kuniyoshi brought the fierce, fantastical, and frightening to ukiyo-e.