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Yayoi Kusama, renowned for elevating dots into a distinct visual vocabulary, has crafted a career spanning experimental art, sculptures, and globally exhibited immersive mirror installations. Kusama passed away on August 14, 2026 in Tokyo. She was 97 years old.
The iconic artist, who began making art as a child in Matsumoto, Japan, passed away at the age of 97. Here, we look back at how Kusama made some of her career-defining works, from large-scale installations to paintings like My Eternal Soul series she began in 2009. Though comprised of approximately 900 paintings total, work on the series continued into 2021, when Kusama began a related body of work titled Every Day I Pray for Love.
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Artworks by Yayoi Kusama have since sold at auction for millions of dollars. Below, we explore the artist’s career, from early influences to her largest-scale installations.
Yayoi Kusama: Quick Wiki
| Full Name | Yayoi Kusama |
| Born | 1929 |
| Birthplace | Matsumoto, Nagano, Japan |
| Died | August 14, 2026 |
| Age at Death | 97 |
| Profession | Artist, novelist |
| Known For | Polka dots, Infinity Nets, Infinity Mirror Rooms |
| Museum | Yayoi Kusama Museum, Tokyo |
From Matsumoto to the New York Avant-Garde
Born in Matsumoto, Japan in 1929, Kusama started painting in childhood and began experimenting with the repetition of shapes and patterns that would come to define her work. She moved to Kyoto and studied art before immigrating to the United States in 1957. She arrived in New York just as the city was cementing its reputation as a burgeoning centre for the avant-garde.
With paintings like those in her Infinity Nets series, Kusama focused on repetition both in terms of how paintings were made and how they were perceived. Created with densely applied paint in a near-combic pattern, these paintings are stark and lack a focal point. As the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York notes, Kusama’s work has ties to Abstract Expressionism, Minimalism, Pop art and Feminist art movements, though she has always made work on her own terms.
Yayoi Kusama | Spend Each Day Embracing Flowers, 2023
The Artworks That Made Kusama a Global Icon
Perhaps none of Kusama’s artwork are as famous as her Infinity Mirror Rooms. These large-scale installations feature mirror-lined rooms filled with repeated lights and sculptures. As with her painting practice, repetition is key.
Dot patterns and sculptures like her signature soft sculpture pumpkins recur throughout her work as well. In Kusama’s work, repetition is used to express concepts like infinity, the experiences of self and one’s relationship to the larger world.
A Legacy That Extends Beyond the Gallery
In addition to galleries and museums, Kusama’s work has also appeared in exhibitions and venues outside the traditional art world. In 2017, Kusama opened the Yayoi Kusama Museum in Tokyo to permanent display a collection of her work. Through experimental painting, sculpture and installation, Kusama turned one of the simplest visual forms into a new visual syntax all her own.
