Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama, who was known for her signature polka dots, has died. She was 97.
An announcement made on her official website by her company on Thursday said that she died on 14 August. It did not give a cause of death.
Kusama was one of Japan’s most respected contemporary artists. She was widely exhibited around the world, including at the Museum of Modern Art, the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York and most recently at the Tate Modern – where her Infinity Mirror Room installations were so popular, the closing date was postponed several times.
Repetitive motifs were her trademark, sometimes resembling netting, swirls or worms – but most often dots. They danced proudly on her canvases or appeared as sparkling balls or dots of light in her installations.
Frustrated with the confining nature of Japanese society, Kusama left for New York at 27, where she quickly made a name for herself with her paintings, inspired by hallucinations of flashing lights, dots and flowers she had seen since childhood.
She also wrote, took part in anti-war activities during the 1960s, and reportedly influenced artists such as Andy Warhol.
Kusama, who was candid about her mental health struggles, said that New York gave her neuroses.
Around 1977, a few years after returning to Japan, she voluntarily entered a mental hospital and lived there for decades, being driven to her nearby studio each morning.
"I still see hallucinations even now," Kusama said in 2017.
"Dots come flying everywhere – on my dress, the floor, things I'm carrying, throughout the house, the ceiling. And I paint them."
Kusama described polka dots as “fabulous” in a 2012 interview with the Associated Press.
“I want to create 1,000 paintings, maybe 2,000 paintings, as many as I can draw,” she said. “I will keep painting until I die.”
In her later years, Kusama enjoyed fame. She signed on with fashion brands like Louis Vuitton and released other licensed products like teacups, T-shirts and key chains with her illustrations, including replicas of her likeness that were used in show windows and other marketing.
In 2008, Christie’s auctioned her work for $5.8 million, and in 2016, she won the most prestigious award Japan gives its artists, the Order of Culture.
Over 13 years later, her Infinity Mirror Room installations opened at the Tate Modern, with people queuing for hours just to spend one minute inside. The spike in popularity came about with the rise of Instagram, with The Independent’s Alastair Smart writing in 2023: “Kusama’s eye-catching art – the Infinity Mirror Rooms, in particular – provides the perfect backdrop for a selfie, with its mix of gleaming lights and patterns of vibrant colour.
“Adele and Katy Perry are among the 100,000 users who have so far posted #infinityroom selfies on Instagram.”
In a statement, Kusama’s company said that she “continued to paint until her final days” – just like she said she would.
“We will carry forward Kusama’s wishes and, through art, continue to bring hope and strength for the future to people around the world.”
