Yayoi Kusama: Who was the late Japanese artist known for turning hallucinations into art, polka dots, anti-war protests and provocative performances

Japanese avant-garde artist Yayoi Kusama, one of the most recognisable figures in contemporary art, has died at the age of 97. Known around the world for her polka dots, pumpkins and immersive Infinity Mirror Rooms, Yayoi Kusama transformed her lifelong experiences of hallucinations into a distinctive artistic language. Her death was announced on her official website, which said she died on August 14, 2026. No cause of death was given.

The artist remained creatively active until the end of her life. Her career spanned painting, sculpture, performance art, literature and installations, while her personal story included struggles with mental health, rejection and a determination to keep creating.

Read more - Yayoi Kusama Death Reason: Japanese avant-garde artist known for her iconic polka dots dies at 97, museum says she painted until her final days

Yayoi Kusama death: What happened to the artist?

The Yayoi Kusama death announcement came from her official website, with reports confirming that she died in a Tokyo hospital at 97. Her studio said she continued painting until her final days.

Born on March 22, 1929, in Matsumoto, Japan, Yayoi began making art at a young age. Her childhood was difficult, and she later described experiencing hallucinations involving dots, flowers and flashes of light.

Read more - Yayoi Kusama saw dots everywhere: Japanese artist returned from US in 1973, lived voluntarily in a psychiatric hospital from 1977 until her death

Those visions eventually became central to her artistic identity.

Kusama once explained that she would see dots appearing on objects around her and would paint them. Rather than simply trying to suppress these experiences, she turned them into paintings, sculptures and installations that would later make her internationally famous.

What is Yayoi Kusama most known for?

Kusama Yayoi, as her name is written in Japanese order, moved to New York in 1957 at the age of 27 after becoming frustrated with the restrictions she felt within Japanese society.

New York's experimental art scene provided a new environment for her work. She created large-scale paintings known as Infinity Nets, soft sculptures and performance pieces, gradually becoming an important figure in the city's avant-garde movement.

What is the significance of polka dots in Yayoi Kusama's art?

Her distinctive use of repetition became her trademark. Polka dots covered canvases, rooms, sculptures and even people, while her Infinity Mirror Rooms created the illusion of endless space through mirrors and lights.

Her influence eventually reached far beyond the traditional art world. Her work was exhibited at major museums and she collaborated with fashion brands including Louis Vuitton.

Why was Yayoi Kusama controversial?

Despite her extraordinary artistic legacy, Yayoi Kusama also faced controversy over racist passages in some of her earlier writings.

In 2023, previously scrutinised passages from her autobiography Infinity Net and other writings attracted criticism for their anti-Black descriptions and stereotypes. Critics also pointed to passages in her 1984 novel The Hustler's Grotto of Christopher Street.

The controversy intensified around her exhibition Yayoi Kusama: Infinite Love at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. Kusama subsequently expressed regret over the offensive language, saying that she deeply regretted using hurtful and offensive language and apologising for the pain caused.

The episode remains an important and difficult part of discussions about her legacy, particularly as her later artistic message increasingly centred on love, humanity and collective experience.

Yayoi Kusama's anti-war protests

Long before she became famous for her Infinity Mirror Rooms, Yayoi used performance art to make political statements.

During the Vietnam War era in the 1960s, she organised provocative happenings and anti-war performances in New York. Her work combined nudity, body painting and polka dots with protests against militarism and the Vietnam War.

One notable example was Anatomic Explosion on Wall Street in 1968, a performance staged at locations associated with political and financial power. The work used painted bodies and provocative performance to challenge militarism.

Her activism demonstrated that Kusama's art was not always about the visually spectacular installations for which she would later become famous. Her early career was also deeply connected to protest, politics and experimentation.

What disability did Yayoi Kusama have?

Mental health was another defining part of Kusama's life and work.

She spoke openly about experiencing hallucinations from childhood, including visions of dots, lights and flowers. These experiences became recurring motifs throughout her career.

After returning to Japan in 1973, Kusama voluntarily entered a psychiatric hospital in Tokyo in 1977. She continued living there while working from a nearby studio, maintaining an extraordinary artistic routine for decades.

Rather than separating her personal struggles from her creative practice, she repeatedly incorporated them into her work.


Inputs from agencies