Yayoi Kusama has died. The Japanese ‘queen of dots’ was 97 years old

Yayoi Kusama, one of the most recognisable artists of our time, died on 14 August at the age of 97 in a hospital in Tokyo. An artist who shaped the direction of avant-garde art for decades, she leaves behind a body of work of exceptional impact – ranging from monumental sculptures to installations that redefine the experience of space.

The news of the artist’s death was announced by Yayoi Kusama Studio. The statement highlighted her extraordinary creative consistency: “She continued to create right up until her final days, never putting down her brush, and carried on her quest for eternal love and the immortal soul.” The studio also recalled that “throughout her extraordinary life, devoted entirely to artistic creation, Kusama developed an internationally acclaimed career as a pioneering avant-garde artist, whose work spanned the visual arts, performance art, prose and poetry”. It went on to add: “We will honour Kusama’s wishes and, through art, continue to bring hope and strength for the future to people all over the world.”

From a difficult childhood to worldwide fame

Kusama was born on 22 March 1929 in the medium-sized town of Matsumoto. She recalled her childhood as a period marked by anxiety and mental health issues that accompanied her throughout her life. Even then, the motif of flickering dots emerged – an element that would eventually become the foundation of her visual language. After the war, she studied at an art school in Kyoto, where her first exhibitions were held.

In the mid-1960s, she moved to the United States. She settled in New York, which proved to be a place of intense creative development for her. She painted, created sculptures, installations and performances, and her works quickly found their way into American collections. During this period, she became one of the most important figures of the New York avant-garde, alongside Andy Warhol and Claes Oldenburg.

Return to Japan

In the early 1970s, the artist withdrew from the art world for several years whilst mourning the death of a close friend. Upon her return to Japan, she voluntarily admitted herself to a psychiatric hospital, where she spent the following decades. She rented a studio near the facility, where she worked every day – often from morning until late in the evening. In 1982, she returned to the international art scene, and a year later represented Japan at the Venice Biennale.

In 2017, she opened her own museum in Tokyo, which displays her works from various periods of her career. In Poland, her works were exhibited, amongst other places, at the Zachęta in Warsaw in 2004.

Major works

Among Kusama’s most recognisable works are sculptures depicting pumpkins – organically shaped objects covered in her characteristic dots. Her ‘Infinity Mirror Rooms’ installations brought her even greater fame; in these, mirrors and lights create the illusion of infinite space. These projects became a global phenomenon, attracting crowds to museums around the world.

Her work also frequently featured motifs with a strong psychological and physical resonance. Dots, grids and repetitive structures were a way of coming to terms with the hallucinations which the artist described as experiences that had accompanied her since childhood. Phallic forms also appeared in many of her works, interpreted as a record of her obsessions and emotional tensions.

Cultural influence

Kusama became one of the most important artists of the 20th and 21st centuries – her works set the direction for subsequent generations of artists, whilst also permeating popular culture. She has collaborated with fashion houses, created designs for luxury brands, and her distinctive aesthetic – red hair, polka-dot outfits, obsessive repetition – has become an icon of visual culture.

In 2016, *Time* magazine named her one of the 100 most influential people in the world. Her works fetched record prices, with one selling for $7.1 million. Kusama left behind a body of work that not only changed the history of art but also influenced the way we think about space, perception and emotions today.

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