Yayoi Kusama: A life in polka dots, pumpkins and infinity
Yayoi Kusama, the pioneering Japanese artist known for her iconic polka dots, pumpkins and immersive Infinity Mirror Rooms, leaves a remarkable legacy spanning more than seven decades. Her distinctive work transformed contemporary art and made her one of the world’s most recognisable artists. Kusama died this month at the age of 97.
Yayoi Kusama at the I Who Have Arrived In Heaven exhibition preview at the David Zwirner Art Gallery in New York City on 7 November 2013. (Photo: Andrew Toth / Getty Images)
Yayoi Kusama with two of her ‘works of art’ in June 1968. She painted naked bodies in an attempt to make them more beautiful at an exhibition in Utrecht. One man is painted all over, while another refused to remove his trousers. (Photo: Keystone Features / Getty Images) Visitors walk through the ‘Kusamatrix’ exhibition by artist Kusama Yayoi at Roppongi Hills in Tokyo on 8 February 2004. Polka dot patterns were her trademark. (Photo: Junko Kimura / Getty Images) The Louis Vuitton and Yayoi Kusama Collaboration unveiling in New York City on 10 July 2012. (Photo: Neilson Barnard / Getty Images) A Yayoi Kusama sculpture on Louis Vuitton’s Champs Elysees store in Paris on 12 January 2023. That year the French fashion house launched a second collaboration with Kusama, following the first in 2012. (Photo: Edward Berthelot / Getty Images) Yayoi Kusama in front of a detail from her artwork, Love arrives at the Earth Carrying with it a Tale of the Cosmos, at the Tate Modern gallery in London on 7 February 2012. The retrospective exhibition of her work ended on 5 June that year. (Photo: Reuters / Luke MacGregor) Yayoi Kusama during a courtesy call with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in Tokyo on 18 September 2013. (Photo: Tsuyoshi Yoshioka / The Yomiuri Shimbun via AFP) Yayoi Kusama attends the preview of her I Who Have Arrived In Heaven exhibition at the David Zwirner Art Gallery in New York City on 7 November 2013. (Photo: Andrew Toth / Getty Images) A wax figure of Yayoi Kusama at Madame Tussauds Tokyo on 16 May 2016. (Photo: Takashi Aoyama / Getty Images) An Yayoi Kusama exhibit titled The Spirits of Pumpkins Descended into the Heavens at the National Gallery Singapore on 6 June 2017. The Yayoi Kusama: Life is the Heart of a Rainbow exhibition featured more than 120 works spanning 70 years. (Photo: Suhaimi Abdullah / Getty Images) Japanese avant garde artist Yayoi Kusama speaks to journalists at her studio in Tokyo on 26 September 2017. (Photo: Reuters / Toru Hanai) Yayoi Kusama works in her studio in Tokyo on 26 September 2017. (Photo: Reuters / Toru Hanai) The sculpture of Yayoi Kusama between the headquarters of the Maison Louis Vuitton and the Samaritaine department store in Paris on 6 March 2023. (Photo: Thierry Chesnot / Getty Images) Shoppers walk past a window display promoting a collaboration between Yayoi Kusama and Louis Vuitton in Harrods department store in London on 22 January 2023. (Photo: Reuters / Toby Melville) Yayoi Kusama’s exhibition, You, Me and the Balloons, at Aviva Studios in Manchester, England, on 29 June 2023, was her largest immersive environment yet. Conceived for Factory International, it celebrated three decades of the pioneering Japanese artist’s inflatable artworks. (Photo: Christopher Furlong / Getty Images) From left: Wayne Crothers, senior curator of Asian art at NGV, Hidenori Ota, founder of OTA Fine Arts, and Takako Fujibayashi from Yayoi Kusama Studio at the preview of Yayoi Kusama’s exhibition at the National Gallery of Victoria in Melbourne, Australia, on 13 December 2024. (Photo: Graham Denholm / Getty Images for NGV) A visitor at the Yayoi Kusama exhibition at the National Gallery of Victoria in Melbourne on 13 December 2024. (Photo: Graham Denholm / Getty Images for NGV) Yayoi Kusama towers over guests arriving on the Pont Neuf for the Louis Vuitton Menswear Spring-Summer 2024 show as part of Paris Fashion Week on 20 June 2023. (Photo: Ludovic Marin / AFP) A video projection of Song of a Manhattan Suicide Addict by Yayoi Kusama during the media preview of her exhibition titled I would overcome death and go on living at Yayoi Kusama Museum in Tokyo on 16 October 2024. (Photo: Philip Fong / AFP)
/file/attachments/orphans/GettyImages-3068088b_254633.jpg "Painter Yayoi Kusama with two of her 'works of art'. She paints naked bodies in an attempt to make them more beautiful . At an exhibition in Utrecht one man is painted all over, another refused to remove his trousers, June 1968. (Photo: Keystone Features/Getty Images)")
/file/attachments/orphans/GettyImages-2946114_539676.jpg "Visitors walk through the \"Kusamatrix\" exhibition by artist Kusama Yayoi at Roppongi Hills February 8, 2004 in Tokyo, Japan. The trademark of Kusama's work is a polka-dot pattern. (Photo: Junko Kimura/Getty Images)")
/file/attachments/orphans/GettyImages-148126493_982290.jpg "A general view of atmosphere at the Louis Vuitton And Yayoi Kusama Collaboration Unveiling at Louis Vuitton on July 10, 2012 in New York City. (Photo: Neilson Barnard/Getty Images)")
/file/attachments/orphans/GettyImages-1456053382_500433.jpg "A Yayoi Kusama sculpture is displayed on the top of the Louis Vuitton's Champs Elysees store, on January 12, 2023 in Paris, France. This Year the French Fashion house has launch a second collaboration with Yayoi Kusama.The first one was in 2012. The Yayoi Kusama x Louis Vuitton collection are now available in all Louis Vuitton's Stores Worldwide. (Photo: Edward Berthelot/Getty Images)")
/file/attachments/orphans/LM1E827103401_116137.jpg "Artist Yayoi Kusama poses for a photograph with a detail from her artwork \"Love arrives at the Earth Carrying with it a Tale of the Cosmos\" at the Tate Modern gallery in London February 7, 2012. The retrospective exhibition of her work opens February 8 and runs until June 5, 2012. (Photo: REUTERS/Luke MacGregor)")
/file/attachments/orphans/AFP_20130919_1KUSAMA20130918114_v1_HighRes_PoldaDotWithPmAbe_247848.jpg "Well-known Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama (L) makes a courtesy call on Prime Minister Shinzo Abe at the Prime Minister's Office in Tokyo on Sept. 18, 2013. The 84-year-old avand garde performs and paints with the polka dot ( The Yomiuri Shimbun ) (Photo: Tsuyoshi Yoshioka / The Yomiuri Shimbun via AFP)")
/file/attachments/orphans/GettyImages-187291283_193751.jpg "Yayoi Kusama attends the Yayoi Kusama \"I Who Have Arrived In Heaven\" Exhibition Press Preview at David Zwirner Art Gallery on November 7, 2013 in New York City. (Photo: Andrew Toth/Getty Images)")
/file/attachments/orphans/GettyImages-531682858_857329.jpg "A wax figure of Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama is displayed at the Madame Tussauds Tokyo on May 16, 2016 in Tokyo, Japan. Madame Tussauds wax museum in Tokyo's latest attraction let visitors, or their holograms, waltz with Leonardo DiCaprio, dance with Beyonce or take part in 'Swan Lake.' (Photo: Takashi Aoyama/Getty Images)")
/file/attachments/orphans/GettyImages-692888896_572201.jpg "A general view of Yayoi Kusama exhibit titled 'The Spirits of Pumpkins Descended into the Heavens' during a media preview at National Gallery Singapore on June 6, 2017 in Singapore. Yayoi Kusama: Life is the Heart of a Rainbow exhibition features over 120 works spanning 70 years of Kusama's artistic practise. The exhibition runs from June 9 to September 3, 2017. (Photo: Suhaimi Abdullah/Getty Images)")
/file/attachments/orphans/RC1C91FA74E0_692072.jpg "Japanese avant-garde artist Yayoi Kusama speaks to journalists at her studio in Tokyo, Japan September 26, 2017. (Photo: REUTERS/Toru Hanai)")
/file/attachments/orphans/RC1BBC57C4A0_334609.jpg "Japanese avant-garde artist Yayoi Kusama works on a creation at her studio in Tokyo, Japan September 26, 2017. (Photo: REUTERS/Toru Hanai)")
/file/attachments/orphans/GettyImages-1471614616_732903.jpg "A huge sculpture in the likeness of Yayoi Kusama is erected between the headquarters of the Maison Louis Vuitton and the Samaritaine department store on March 06, 2023 in Paris, France. A free, masterful and surprising installation in honor of Louis Vuitton's new collaboration with the famous designer. Yayoi Kusama is an avant-garde Japanese contemporary artist, painter, sculptor and writer who often uses polka dots and colors in her works. (Photo: Chesnot/Getty Images)")
/file/attachments/orphans/RC2SVY9EAOR1_528185.jpg "Shoppers walk past window display screen of Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama, promoting a collaboration between Kusama and fashion brand Louis Vuitton, at Harrods department store in January 22, 2023. (Photo: REUTERS/Toby Melville)")
/file/attachments/orphans/GettyImages-1263356254_703223.jpg "A general view of the exhibition \"You, Me and the Balloons\" by Yayoi Kusama at Aviva Studios on June 29, 2023 in Manchester, England. Artist Yayoi Kusama, renowned for her surreal dotted pumpkin installations, brings her largest-ever immersive environment to Manchester. Conceived especially for Factory International, Yayoi Kusama - You, Me and the Balloons celebrates three decades of the pioneering Japanese artist's inflatable artworks. (Photo: Christopher Furlong/Getty Images)")
/file/attachments/orphans/GettyImages-2189683242_753610.jpg "(L-R) Wayne Crothers Senior Curator of Asian Art at NGV, Hidenori Ota Founder OTA Fine Arts and Takako Fujibayashi from Yayoi Kusama Studio speak at the preview of the Yayoi Kusama exhibition at National Gallery of Victoria on December 13, 2024 in Melbourne, Australia. (Photo: Graham Denholm/Getty Images for NGV)")
/file/attachments/orphans/GettyImages-2189683019_859445.jpg "Visitors view the Yayoi Kusama exhibition at National Gallery of Victoria on December 13, 2024 in Melbourne, Australia. (Photo: Graham Denholm/Getty Images for NGV)")
/file/attachments/orphans/AFP_20230620_33KJ648_v1_HighRes_FashionFranceMenLouisVuitton_372165.jpg "This photograph shows a general view of the Pont Neuf, with the statue of Henry IV, the Samaritaine building in the background (L) and a statue depicting the Japanese contemporary artist Yayoi Kusama painting, as guest arrive prior to the Louis Vuitton Menswear Spring-Summer 2024 show as part of the Paris Fashion Week, central Paris, on June 20, 2023. (Photo: Ludovic MARIN / AFP)")
/file/attachments/orphans/AFP_20260827_C6L82WH_v1_HighRes_FilesJapanArtKusama_114006.jpg "A video projection of \"Song of a Manhattan Suicide Addict\" by Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama is seen during the media preview of the exhibition \"I would overcome death and go on living\" at Yayoi Kusama Museum in Tokyo on October 16, 2024. Japanese avant-garde artist Yayoi Kusama, known as the \"polka dot queen\", has died aged 97, a statement from her company said on August 27, 2026. (Photo: Philip FONG / AFP)")
Yayoi Kusama at the I Who Have Arrived In Heaven exhibition preview at the David Zwirner Art Gallery in New York City on 7 November 2013. (Photo: Andrew Toth / Getty Images)
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