Yayoi Kusama, Influential Japanese Artist, Passes Away at 97

Yayoi Kusama, the renowned Japanese artist known for her colorful polka-dot art, died at 97 in Tokyo on August 14.

Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama, best known for her colorful, polka-dot-covered artwork and sculptures, has died. She was 97.

Kusama’s official website announced her death on Thursday, stating that the artist had passed away in a Tokyo hospital on August 14. No cause of death was specified.

“She continued to paint until her final days, never setting aside her brush, and continued exploration of forever love and eternal soul,” the statement read.

Born in Matsumoto, Japan, in 1929, Kusama experienced visions and hallucinations from a young age, which later informed her artistic expression.

Over the years, her body of work grew to include the Infinity Mirror Rooms and pumpkin sculptures, making her one of the world’s most recognizable contemporary artists.

Kusama began exhibiting her work in Japan during the 1950s before moving to New York in 1957. There, she quickly became part of the city’s avant-garde scene. At her first solo exhibition, Kusama debuted a series of paintings that would later be known as “Infinity Nets.”

In a 1961 article, she described working “as much as fifty to sixty hours at a stretch,” becoming “under the spell of the accumulation and repetition” in her art.

Kusama’s tireless approach to creation continued throughout her life. She voluntarily checked into a psychiatric hospital in Tokyo around 1977, where she lived until her death. Even in her final decades, she remained dedicated to producing new work.

Kusama said in a 2014 interview that creating art had helped her manage life’s challenges. “Every day I am creating a new world by making artworks. I wake up early in the morning and stay up late at night, sometimes until 3 a.m., just to make art. I am fighting for my life and don’t take any rest,” she shared.

Reflecting on her struggles as an artist in a 2020 interview, Kusama expressed the urgency she felt to continue her work, stating that she still had to do her “very best” because her time left was limited. “But I kept at it and I am now at an age that I never imagined I would reach,” she noted.

In 2023, she revealed that she was still painting daily and aimed to “continue creating a world in awe of life.” She believed that her age had not diminished her creative spirit, expressing confidence in her endless inspiration. “I never run out of ideas so I shall continue to show new things,” she affirmed, highlighting her desire to create increasingly original works.