Yayoi Kusama | The Space Between

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Yayoi Kusama

Kusama, is renowned for her polka dots, infinity installations, and mirrored rooms. Active in painting, sculpture, performance, and fashion, she rose to prominence in New York’s avant-garde scene of the 1960s, influencing peers like Warhol.

Her immersive works explore themes of infinity, self‑obliteration, and mental health. Now one of the world’s most celebrated living artists, she continues creating from a Tokyo psychiatric facility.

Yayoi died: August 14, 2026 - 97 years old.

Spending Each Day Embracing Flowers , 2023

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Give me Love, 2015

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Infinity Mirrored Room - Let's survive Forever, 2017

"I fight pain, anxiety, and fear every day, and the only method I have found that relieves my illness is to keep creating art. I followed the thread of art and somehow discovered a path that would allow me to live."

"Every time I have had a problem, I have confronted it with the ax of art."

"With just one polka dot, nothing can be achieved. In the universe, there is the sun, the moon, the earth, and hundreds of millions of stars. All of us live in the unfathomable mystery and infinitude of the universe. Pursuing philosophy of the universe through art under such circumstances has led me to what I call stereotypical repetition."

"My art originates from hallucinations only I can see. I translate the hallucinations and obsessional images that plague me into sculptures and paintings. All my works in pastels are the products of obsessional neurosis and are therefore inextricably connected to my disease. I create pieces even when I don’t see hallucinations, though."

"I have a lot left inside. I believe my art will last 500 years, 1,000 years and forever. For me, art is everything. I will strive to create works of art until I die, in the hope that my work will continue to touch the hearts of people even after I have died."

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