Yayoi Kusama, the Princess of Polka, has ascended on her pumpkin chariot one last time and bid adieu to the living world, leaving behind a universe forever altered by her obsession. The Japanese artist, who immortalized polka dots and pumpkins over a 74-year career, breathed her last at a Tokyo hospital on August 14 at the age of 97. The Matsumoto-born force behind the mirrored infinity rooms has finally met with finity, leaving a legacy made vibrant by paintings, sculptures, and idiosyncratic installations. Even when it came to her deepest tribulations, the artist found inspiration, turning intense hallucinations into her singular style of expression.
At 28, her move to the United States fundamentally changed how her art was perceived and received. Over those 16 years, she debuted the Infinity Mirror Rooms and ventured into musicals, filmmaking, and fashion before ultimately returning to Japan. Her career experienced a monumental resurgence in her 70s, leading to her first major collaboration with Louis Vuitton, a partnership revived on an even grander scale in 2023, reported Artnews. Let’s take a look at some of the most iconic works of the visionary who wrapped the Champs-Élysées maison in dots and became the world’s top-grossing contemporary artist in 2024, achieving almost $60 million in sales. For someone who painted until her very last breath, this is a glimpse into a life painted by art, and not the other way around.
Infinity Nets – Kusama’s most expensive painting ever sold
The artworks were created during the Japanese artist’s early days in New York. During this decade, she painted these massive canvases nonstop, often for 40 to 50 hours straight without sleeping or eating. They are true labors of love. Interestingly, these early Nets paintings sold for roughly $200 each in the late 1950s; in May 2022, a 1959 canvas titled Untitled (Nets) hammered for a staggering $10.5 million at Phillips New York, making it the most expensive Yayoi Kusama artwork ever sold.
Narcissus Garden – a bold representation of art and idea
She didn’t wait for invitations or permissions but made the most of an opportunity when she saw it. That’s the core of Narcissus Garden for you. Unabashedly passionate about her art, the avant-garde artist literally crashed the 33rd Venice Biennale in 1966. She did secure permission from the chairman of the Biennale committee to stage an outdoor display. The display wasn’t a statue but 1,500 tightly spaced mirrored balls outside the Italian Pavilion, with a golden kimono-clad Kusama in the center of it all. She turned the installation into a shop by selling each mirrored ball to tourists for about $2.
Phalli’s Field – the very first Infinity Mirror Room
Kusama was a hard worker through and through, but she couldn’t create infinitely, which is why mirrors helped her achieve her vision. For Phalli’s Field, she tested her limits, tirelessly putting in 50 to 60 hours of physical effort hand-sewing thousands of fabric phalluses. Clearly, that was not enough to make the idea work, so Kusama brilliantly pivoted to using mirrors in 1965 to achieve infinite repetition. The work debuted at the Castellane Gallery.
Yellow Pumpkin, a permanent representative of Kusama
This artwork was not safeguarded in galleries, but it was a true test of time and the elements. Making its home on the edge of an old pier on Naoshima Island, in Japan’s Seto Inland Sea, since 1994, this two-meter-tall fiberglass pumpkin survived until August 2021. It took a fierce typhoon to shake the work of the great Yayoi Kusama and sweep it into the Seto Inland Sea. Unfortunately, the piece broke into three pieces but was seamlessly rebuilt in 2022. The permanently installed public monument is owned by Benesse Holdings, is effectively priceless, and will never see the auction block. Other versions of her large freestanding pumpkin sculptures have fetched between $3 million and over $5 million at Christie’s and Sotheby’s.
The Obliteration Room, 800,000-Sticker Phenomenon
It began as a spotless white room and ended up, thanks to Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama’s collaboration with the Queensland Art Gallery, a kaleidoscopic space with anything but white. Kusama rightfully called it The Obliteration Room, as everything from the locally sourced white furniture to the pristine walls had absorbed over 800,000 stickers. Since the success of the first 2002 Queensland exhibition, The Obliteration Room has become a touring phenomenon, recreated at over 30 different venues across 18 countries. The total global attendance for this specific installation is estimated to be over 6.2 million people.
