Avant-garde polka dot artist Yayoi Kusama dies aged 97

By Laura Harding, Press Association Entertainment Editor

Avant-garde Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama, known for her distinctive vibrant polka dot creations, has died at the age of 97.

She was also well known for her pumpkins, which were a signature of her art from the 1940s onwards, and her infinity room mirrors.

A statement from her company and studio on Thursday said: “It is with profound sorrow that the passing of Yayoi Kusama, at a hospital in Tokyo on August 14 2026, at the age of 97.

“Throughout an extraordinary lifetime devoted entirely to artistic creation, Kusama pursued an internationally acclaimed career as a pioneering avant-garde artist whose creative practice encompassed visual art, performance, fiction, and poetry.

“She continued to paint until her final days, never setting aside her brush, and continued exploration of forever love and eternal soul.

“We will carry forward Kusama’s wishes and, through art, continue to bring hope and strength for the future to people around the world.”

Immersive installations of Kusama’s infinity room mirrors were at hit at the Tate Modern in London from 2021 to 2024.

Repeated polka dots, which first emerged in her work in the 1960s, were one of her signature motifs.

They are represented in the work commissioned to go on display outside the Elizabeth line entrance to London’s Liverpool Street station.

Infinite Accumulation, made up of gleaming silver spheres, reaches over 10 metres high and 12 metres wide and covers an area of approximately 100 metres in length.

Kusama was widely exhibited around the world, including the Museum of Modern Art, the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York and the Museum Ludwig in Germany.

Her work spanned painting, drawing, collage, sculpture, performance, film, printmaking, installation and environmental art.

It also included literature, product design and fashion, most notably with her 2012 and 2023 collaborations with Louis Vuitton.

In and out of psychiatric institutions for decades, she was distinctive for a her signature orange bob wig

She was one of the first Japanese women to go to New York to pursue her art in 1957, and befriended the likes of Andy Warhol, Georgia O’Keeffe and Joseph Cornell, who praised her innovative style.

In May 2022 her 1959 piece Untitled (Nets) sold for 10.5 million dollars (£7.7 million) at Phillips New York, setting an auction record for her work.