Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama, renowned for splashing her signature polka dots across paintings, sculptures, and immersive museum installations around the globe, has died at the age of 97, according to the Associated Press. Yayoi Kusama Studio announced that the artist died on Aug. 14 at a hospital in Tokyo, though the studio did not specify a cause of death.
Japanese Avant-Garde Icon Yayoi Kusama Dies at 97
In a statement released by her studio, representatives said, She continued to paint until her final days, never setting aside her brush, and continued exploration of forever love and eternal soul.
The studio added, We will carry forward Kusama’s wishes and, through art, continue to bring hope and strength for the future to people around the world.
A Lifetime Pursuing a Hallucinatory Vision
Kusama insisted that she drew the world exactly as she saw it, covered in spots stemming from hallucinations she experienced beginning in childhood. Her repetitive motifs became her trademark across various shapes resembling netting, swirls, and worms, though dots remained her most frequent focus—dancing on canvases or appearing as sparkling balls and dots of light in her installations.
Despite spending decades in and out of psychiatric institutions, Kusama’s health challenges did not stop her from forging a trailblazing career. In 1957, she became one of the first Japanese women to move to New York to pursue her art. When she arrived, the dominant art fad was action painting,
characterized by dribbles, swooshes, and smears rather than dots. She endured years of poverty and obscurity before gaining widespread attention through anti-war performances in the late 1960s, where she placed circles of paper on people’s bodies and a horse.
Global Recognition and Cultural Legacy
Kusama was frequently assigned labels such as pop, avant-garde, and feminist artist, though she routinely brushed off these categorizations as inadequate representations of her work. Born to a middle-class family who pressured her to marry rather than paint—preferring to buy her kimonos instead of art supplies—she knew she had to leave Japan and chose America.
In her later years, as public tastes aligned with her distinctive style, Kusama achieved global fame, particularly through her mirrored, Instagram-friendly infinity rooms.
Her work was widely exhibited at prestigious institutions including the Museum of Modern Art and the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York, as well as the Museum Ludwig in Germany. Her commercial success also soared, highlighted by a 2008 Christie’s auction where her work sold for $5.8 million, alongside major collaborations with fashion brands like Louis Vuitton and licensed merchandise such as T-shirts, teacups, and key chains.
Reflecting on her relentless dedication to her craft in a past interview, Kusama expressed a fierce determination to keep creating. I feel there is little left in my life, but I am now still fighting to the death for my art,
she said upon receiving Japan’s Order of Culture. I am giving all I have so that many people will continue to be interested in my art, even after I am dead.
