Last updated: 27 October 2026
Yayoi Kusama was the Japanese artist of polka dots, nets, pumpkins and Infinity Mirror Rooms. She died in August 2026, aged 97. Here you will find our take on her work, where to see it now and what you can buy.
Our take on Yayoi Kusama
Kusama turned obsessive repetition into a visual language of dots and nets. Her official biography traces her first polka-dot and net drawings to the visions and hallucinations she experienced as a child, and describes a philosophy she called “self-obliteration”, built on simple motifs repeated and multiplied.
She moved to New York in 1957 and showed net paintings, soft sculptures and mirror installations there, then returned to Japan in 1973. Her “Infinity Mirror Room” series and outdoor pumpkins made her work known around the world. She kept working into her nineties, starting a series called Every Day I Pray for Love in 2021.
She died in a Tokyo hospital on 14 August 2026, according to her official website. Her London gallery, Victoria Miro, had worked with her for thirty years.
Yayoi Kusama: the essentials
- Born in 1929 in Matsumoto City, Japan, according to her official biography.
- Lived in the United States from 1957 to 1973.
- Made roughly 900 paintings in her My Eternal Soul series between 2009 and 2021.
- The Yayoi Kusama Museum opened in Tokyo in 2017.
- Represented in London by Victoria Miro; Tate Modern held a major Kusama retrospective in 2012.
- Died in Tokyo on 14 August 2026, aged 97.
Yayoi Kusama exhibitions
- On now: the touring Kusama retrospective at the Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, 11 September 2026 to 17 January 2027, organised with the Fondation Beyeler and Museum Ludwig, according to Victoria Miro.
- Museum Ludwig, Cologne, 14 March to 2 August 2026, and Fondation Beyeler, Riehen, 12 October 2025 to 25 January 2026.
- We found no current Kusama exhibition in the UK.
Where to buy Yayoi Kusama
Original works sell through her galleries and at auction. From the Tate shop:
Yayoi Kusama FAQs
When did Yayoi Kusama die?
On 14 August 2026, in a hospital in Tokyo, aged 97, according to her official website.
Where is the Yayoi Kusama retrospective now?
At the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam until 17 January 2027.
Where can I buy Kusama’s autobiography?
Infinity Net is £14.99 from the Tate shop.
Which gallery represents Yayoi Kusama in London?
Victoria Miro, which worked with her for thirty years.
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- Gifts for artists: our edit of presents for people who make things.
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Main image: Portrait of Yayoi Kusama, 2013. Photo: Gautier Deblonde, courtesy Victoria Miro. Cropped and framed by CoolCuration. Exhibition dates and prices last checked: 27 October 2026.
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