Yayoi Kusama, Japan's most beloved living artist

Born in 1929 in Matsumoto, Nagano Prefecture, Yayoi Kusama is one of the most distinctive and influential artists of the modern era, known worldwide for her immersive infinity rooms, obsessive polka dots, and glowing pumpkin sculptures. Her work transforms deeply personal psychological experiences into a universal visual language, making her art both intimate and monumental.

Kusama grew up surrounded by Nagano's mountains and open landscapes that later echoed in her fascination with endless space. From childhood, she experienced vivid hallucinations in which patterns multiplied and overtook her surroundings. Rather than resisting these visions, she drew them. Art became a form of survival, shaping themes that would define her career: repetition, infinity, self-obliteration, and the fragile boundary between the self and the universe.

In the late 1950s, Kusama moved to New York, determined to enter the heart of the contemporary art world. There, she developed her “Infinity Net” paintings—large-scale canvases covered in meticulous, repetitive marks. These works aligned her with emerging Minimalist ideas while remaining deeply emotional and obsessive. She also expanded into sculpture, performance, and installation, staging provocative happenings and creating mirrored environments that dissolved the viewer’s sense of space. Despite influencing peers and often working ahead of artistic trends, Kusama’s contributions were frequently overlooked due to her position as a woman and immigrant.

Repetition lies at the core of Kusama’s philosophy. Her polka dots are not decorative motifs but symbols of the cosmos—cells, stars, and moments multiplied endlessly. This idea finds its most powerful expression in her Infinity Mirror Rooms, immersive installations that surround visitors with reflections and light, creating the sensation of infinite space. Though widely shared today through photographs, these works originate from deeply introspective meditations on loneliness, eternity, and humanity’s place within the universe.

Kusama returned to Japan, where, since the 1970s, she has lived voluntarily in a psychiatric hospital in Tokyo, maintaining a strict routine of daily work in her nearby studio. She speaks openly about mental illness as an inseparable part of her creative life. For Kusama, art is not separate from living; it is the mechanism that allows her to continue.

Kusama spent decades working outside mainstream attention, also producing novels and poetry that echo the intensity of her visual art. Global recognition surged from the 1990s onward, with major retrospectives and record-breaking exhibitions around the world. Today, she is widely regarded as Japan’s most famous living artist and one of the most recognizable figures in contemporary art.

Where to see Kusama's work? Her hometown honors her legacy at the Matsumoto City Museum of Art, which houses a significant permanent collection. Set against Nagano’s alpine scenery, the museum connects Kusama’s global influence to her local roots.

Additionally, in Tokyo, the small Yayoi Kusama Museum in Shinjuku hosts two different exhibitions a year.

Visitors to Naoshima (Art Island) are greeted by one of Kusama's famous gourds.

Kusama’s legacy extends beyond aesthetics. She has reshaped conversations around mental health, gender, aging, and artistic perseverance. Her work reminds us that vulnerability can generate power, and that within repetition and infinity, we may find a deeper understanding of ourselves — each of us just one dot in an endless, luminous field.