brussels rolls out hokusai’s great wave in 750,000 dahlias for flower carpet 2026
HOKUSAI’S GREAT WAVE TAKES OVER BRUSSELS
For four days, one of the world’s most recognizable waves has washed up in the middle of Brussels — in flowers. The 24th edition of the city’s Flower Carpet covers the Grand-Place with Neo Hokusai, a floral reinterpretation of Katsushika Hokusai’s The Great Wave off Kanagawa. Running from August 13 to 16, 2026, the installation marks the 160th anniversary of diplomatic and friendship relations between Belgium and Japan, while bringing Japan back as guest of honor ten years after its previous appearance at the event.
The design comes from Japanese artist Hiro Sugiyama, founder of contemporary art collective Enlightenment, who translates Hokusai’s 19th-century composition through geometric lines, graphic blocks of color and digital precision. Rather than simply reproducing the ukiyo-e print at monumental scale, Neo Hokusai folds contemporary visual language into the familiar swell, turning the historic square into something halfway between a digital canvas and an extremely ambitious flower bed.
Brussels’ Grand-Place transforms into a floral wave | images: ©FlowerCarpet_MasterShoot
750,000 DAHLIAS BUILD A 1,300-SQM IMAGE
More than 750,000 dahlias make up the installation, covering almost 1,300 square meters and accounting for around 80% of the carpet. Dahlias have been the event’s flower of choice since 2024, and for this edition they are arranged alongside a series of Japanese motifs embedded into the composition. An ichimatsu checkerboard — traditionally associated with continuity and prosperity — frames the upper and lower edges, while patterns inspired by kumiko ranma woodwork define the sides. Brussels’ coat of arms occupies the four corners.
The installation turns a centuries-old form of floral decoration into a rather improbable meeting point between Japanese graphic culture, Belgian horticulture and UNESCO-listed architecture. Its reference to Hokusai also nods to the history of Japonisme, when Japanese ukiyo-e prints began radically influencing European artists in the late 19th century. More than a century later, the exchange comes full circle: an image once exported from Japan to Europe is now reconstructed petal by petal in the center of the Belgian capital.
more than 750,000 dahlias compose the 1,300-square-meter flower carpet
A SECOND FLOWER CARPET EXTENDS THE ROUTE
For the first time, the Grand-Place is not the only location getting the floral treatment. A second flower carpet inside the Brussels Stock Exchange extends the event towards the Bourse, creating a route through the city center. This companion installation takes hops — a symbol of Belgium’s brewing heritage — as its starting point, using natural tones and botanical imagery to connect the country’s floral and beer-making traditions.
Visitors can see both installations from August 13 through 16, while the Grand-Place carpet is accompanied each evening by a sound and light show running from 9:45 pm to 11 pm, with performances every 15 minutes. The square itself remains freely accessible throughout the event, while elevated views of the carpet are available from the balcony of Brussels Town Hall. For a work made from hundreds of thousands of cut flowers and destined to disappear after four days, Neo Hokusai certainly knows how to make an entrance.
Japanese artist Hiro Sugiyama designed the 2026 flower carpet for Brussels
the installation marks 160 years of diplomatic relations between Belgium and Japan
thousands of flowers turn the historic grand-place into a temporary graphic landscape
Hiro Sugiyama, Takeshi Osuga and Nawal Ben Hamou
Hiro Sugiyama, Nawal Ben Hamou, and Takeshi Osuga
project info:
name: Flower Carpet 2026 | @flowercarpetbrussels
artist: Hiro Sugiyama | @hiro_sugiyama_enlightenment
location: Grand-Place, Brussels, Belgium
dates: August 13–16, 2026
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