Where Did the Polka Dots Come From? Yayoi Kusama's 97 Years, and Where to See Her Work

On 27 August 2026, the official websites of Yayoi Kusama Inc. and Yayoi Kusama Studio Inc. announced that the avant-garde artist Yayoi Kusama had died on 14 August at a hospital in Tokyo. She was 97. Our condolences to all who knew and worked with her.

The announcement described a life given entirely to international work as an avant-garde artist across art, performance, fiction and poetry, saying she never let go of her brush until shortly before her death, in a 97-year life spent pursuing eternal love and the soul. That single clause, that she never put down the brush, comes close to summing up the whole of it.

This article looks at where the dots and the nets came from, what happened during sixteen years in New York and half a century after her return, and where her work can be seen in Japan today. Details of exhibitions and opening arrangements change, so please check each institution's official information before visiting.

Where did the dots and nets come from?

Yayoi Kusama was born in 1929 in Matsumoto, Nagano Prefecture. From an early age she experienced visual and auditory hallucinations, and she has described turning them into pictures. Both the net pattern and the polka dot are said to have emerged from that.

The Infinity Nets, canvases covered edge to edge in a single repeating mesh, are among her earliest signature series. With no centre and no margin, the surface continues at the same density throughout, inviting you to imagine the same thing extending beyond the frame. The later installations, which use facing mirrors to reflect light and objects endlessly, follow the same line of thought.

The pumpkin is said to have functioned as something close to a self-portrait for her. A round body, countless dots, weight set down on the ground. Through exhibitions and collaborations with global brands alike, it became the motif most widely associated with her.

What did sixteen years in New York change?

In 1957 Kusama moved to the United States and based herself in New York. Net paintings, soft sculptures made from fabric and stuffing, installations that turned an entire room into the work, and happenings that used the body and the dot in public space: she changed the format of her work again and again.

The mirrored Infinity Mirror Room is dated to 1965 and was developed in many forms thereafter. The Infinity Mirrors exhibition held at the Center for International Contemporary Arts in New York in 1989 is often cited as the turning point that brought her back to front-line recognition.

She spent sixteen years in New York, returning to Japan in 1973. The gap between how she was positioned in the Japanese art world at the time and the international standing she later held is a point frequently raised when her career is discussed.

Where did she paint for the next half century?

After returning in 1973, Kusama resumed working while living at a hospital in Tokyo, as has been reported. For many years afterwards she kept the place where she lived and the place where she worked separate, and continued to paint. Works on themes of mourning and requiem come from this period, including a 1975 piece and the war trilogy of 1977.

Her studio stood for many years in Bentencho, Shinjuku. On 1 October 2017 the Yayoi Kusama Museum opened in that same neighbourhood, placing a museum bearing her own name a short walk from where she lived and worked.

The pace of her output did not slacken in later life. My Eternal Soul, painted between 2009 and 2021, runs to some 900 works, and in 2021 she began a new series, Every Day I Pray for Love. The line in the official announcement about never letting go of the brush sits at the end of that arc.

Where can you see her work in Japan?

Several places in Japan hold her work on permanent display. They differ in character, so it is worth choosing by what you want from the visit.

The Matsumoto City Museum of Art stands in her birthplace. A monumental tulip sculpture, Visionary Flowers (2002), greets visitors at the entrance, and her work is shown in the permanent display. Objects, dot-covered vending machines and benches are placed outside the building as well, so walking the street becomes part of the viewing.

The Yayoi Kusama Museum in Bentencho, Shinjuku, opened on 1 October 2017. It is reported to run on timed advance booking, with tickets sold through the museum's own website. It is not large, but it is the only museum bearing her name.

The Pumpkin on Naoshima, Kagawa Prefecture, sits at the end of a pier reaching into the sea. In August 2021 it was swept into the water and badly damaged by winds from Typhoon No. 9. Repair was judged impossible and the work was remade, going back on display from 4 October 2022. The new Pumpkin is 2 metres high and 2.5 metres wide, made of fibre-reinforced plastic, built thicker than before, and reportedly modified so that a hook can be fitted to the stem to move it quickly to safety when high waves are expected.

The Towada Art Center in Aomori Prefecture opened in 2008 and holds a permanent display of 38 commissioned works. Outdoors, its street-level permanent display includes Love Forever, Singing in Towada, a group of eight sculptures including a pumpkin, a girl, mushrooms and dogs, which can be seen free of charge.

What happens to the work now?

Works held in museum collections and those permanently installed outdoors generally remain on public view after an artist's death. Naoshima's Pumpkin shows that even a destroyed work can be remade and returned to display.

At the same time, memorial exhibitions, or conversely temporary closures and rehangs, are possible. So soon after the announcement, each institution will set out its own arrangements in due course. It is safer to avoid firm predictions and wait for official notices.

The dots and the nets remain on the walls whether or not she is here. On a street corner in Matsumoto, at the end of a pier on Naoshima, outdoors in Towada. Going to see the work while you can is one of the few things a viewer can actually do for it.

In the SUMIMOTO Hub app, a 24-hour AI adviser supports you in several languages with getting around Japan and reading the signage and notices at venues. Whether you already live here or are planning a visit, it is there to make the places you want to reach easier to reach.