‘The only method I have found that relieved my illness is to keep creating art’: Remembering Yayoi Kusama

She suffered from hallucinations from childhood and by the age of 10 had created paintings in watercolors, pastels, and oils using polka dot and net motifs that she encountered in her visions

Yayoi Kusama, one of the world’s most notable avant-garde artists, has died at the age of 97, leaving the global art community to mourn the passing of a uniquely brilliant mind.

Yayoi Kusama has died at 97. WWD/Penske Media via Getty Images Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama has died at 97 in Tokyo. She was best known for her use of polka dots and patterns in her work, as well as her immersive Infinity Mirror Rooms. Kusama continued creating art throughout her life, painting until her final days.

In the history of the National Gallery of Victoria, their most successful ticketed exhibition did not feature the work of Vincent van Gogh, Claude Monet or Pablo Picasso. It was of the veteran Japanese artist, Yayoi Kusama, who has died aged 97. Held over the summer months in 2024–25, the Melbourne exhibition attracte