The Art World Loses an Icon: Yayoi Kusama, Queen of Polka Dots and Infinity, Dies at 97

TOKYO — Yayoi Kusama, the trailblazing Japanese avant-garde artist whose mesmerizing polka dots, immersive infinity rooms, and iconic pumpkin sculptures turned her personal visions into a global cultural phenomenon, has died at the age of 97.

According to a statement from the Yayoi Kusama Museum and Foundation, she passed away at a hospital in Tokyo. She continued painting until her final days.

Spanning more than seven decades, Kusama’s career bridged the post-war New York avant-garde scene and the pinnacle of contemporary global art. Born in Matsumoto, Japan, in 1929, Kusama began experiencing vivid hallucinations as a child—seeing flashes of light, flowers, and dense fields of dots that covered walls, ceilings, and her own body. Rather than running from these overwhelming visions, she transformed them into a radical artistic vocabulary, using repetition and obsession as a method of psychological survival and profound creation.

After moving to the United States in 1957, Kusama became a disruptive force in New York’s art circles, staging provocative anti-war happenings, soft sculptures, and her famous Infinity Nets paintings. Though she faced periods of relative obscurity, her return to Japan in 1973—and her subsequent voluntary decision in 1977 to live in a Tokyo psychiatric hospital near her active studio—did nothing to slow her down. In the decades that followed, she evolved into one of the most commercially successful and widely beloved living artists in history.

Her signature Infinity Mirror Rooms—kaleidoscopic environments utilizing mirrors and glowing lights to create the illusion of boundless space—drew millions of visitors worldwide, sparking hours-long queues at major cultural institutions from New York to Tokyo. In later life, her distinct visual language bridged high art and popular culture through landmark collaborations with global luxury houses like Louis Vuitton, cementing her status as a cross-generational icon.

Gallery owners, curators, and fellow artists flooded social and international media with tributes, remembering her not only as a titan of modern art history, but as a resilient force who stayed true to her vision to the very end.

"She continued to paint until her final days, never setting aside her brush, and remained steadfast in her lifelong belief that love can save the world," the foundation said in its memorial statement.

Kusama is survived by a legacy that fundamentally altered how humanity interacts with space, art, and perception—leaving behind a world forever dotted with her vision of infinity.