Yayoi Kusama has died — the artist who, half a century ago, unsuccessfully tried to conquer New York and eventually became one of the most famous artists in the world.
She was 97 years old. Kusama died on August 14 at a hospital in Tokyo, but her studio announced her death only today. The cause of death has not been disclosed. It is known only that she continued painting until the final days of her life.
Kusama arrived in New York in 1958 as a virtually unknown 29-year-old artist from Japan, with almost no money or connections. Here, she created her first Infinity Nets — enormous canvases covered with thousands of repeating loops, staged anti-war performances, and began building infinite spaces out of mirrors, long before they became the perfect backdrop for museum selfies.
Yayoi Kusama in 1958, 1961, and 1968
The dots, pumpkins, and mirrors did not emerge as a successful visual style. Since childhood, Kusama had experienced recurring patterns and flashes that gradually seemed to engulf objects, rooms, and her own body. Painting helped her cope with these experiences and regain control over the world around her.
In 1973, she left New York, and from 1977 onward, she voluntarily lived in a psychiatric hospital in Tokyo. Almost every day, she would leave the hospital and walk to a nearby studio to work.
New York, where Kusama remained on the periphery for a long time, eventually became one of the key cities in her worldwide fame. Crowds lined up for her exhibitions, her pumpkins sold for millions, and her dots appeared virtually everywhere — from museums and parks to Louis Vuitton storefronts.
There are only two of her permanent, publicly accessible works in New York:
- Pumpkin, a bronze sculpture from 2014, approximately 2.5 meters tall. It is installed in the courtyard of the SKY residential tower, just north of the Javits Center near the Hudson River, and is considered Kusama’s first permanent public sculpture in New York. Two Infinity Nets paintings are also displayed in the building’s lobby, but the lobby is residential, and unrestricted public access is not guaranteed. / 📍 SKY Apartments / 605 W 42nd St, New York, NY 10036
- A Message of Love, Directly from My Heart unto the Universe, a huge mosaic created in 2022, measuring 36 meters in length and covering approximately 81 square meters. It is located inside the LIRR terminal — the passage to the commuter trains within Grand Central Terminal. / 📍 Grand Central Madison / 383 Madison Ave, New York, NY 10017
