Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama, whose was known for polka dots, pumpkins and infinity mirror rooms turned her into one of the world's most celebrated contemporary artists, has died at the age of 97. Kusama died at a hospital in Tokyo on August 14, 2026, according to a statement from the Yayoi Kusama Museum and Studio. Her cause of death was not disclosed.
Behind the bright colours and seemingly endless patterns was a deeply personal artistic journey. Kusama had spoken openly about experiencing hallucinations from childhood, including visions of flashing lights, flowers and fields of dots. She eventually turned those experiences into the visual language that made her famous around the world.
One of the most unusual parts of her life was her decision to live in a psychiatric hospital. In 1977, after returning to Japan and facing deteriorating mental health, Kusama voluntarily entered a psychiatric hospital in Tokyo. She remained there for decades, while continuing to work at a studio located nearby.
Kusama's decision was closely connected to her long-running mental health struggles. She had experienced hallucinations since childhood and later described seeing dots spread across objects, walls, ceilings and even her own surroundings. Rather than simply treating these visions as something to escape, she incorporated them into her work.
After returning from the US to Japan in 1973, Kusama's physical and mental health had deteriorated. Four years later, she voluntarily checked herself into a psychiatric hospital in Tokyo. From there, she developed a routine that allowed her to continue creating art.
Her studio was close to the hospital, and she was able to travel there to work. The arrangement continued for the rest of her life.
The Tate has also noted that Kusama had lived voluntarily in a psychiatric institution since 1977, describing her work as being closely linked to repetition, obsession and her desire to escape.
Kusama's dots were not merely a design choice. She said the visions she experienced as a child became an important source for her artistic ideas. Repetition became a way of confronting those experiences and, in her own words, painting what she saw.
"I still see hallucinations even now," Kusama said in 2017, explaining how dots appeared across her surroundings.
That idea of repetition eventually became central to her career. She covered canvases, sculptures, furniture and entire environments with dots and repeated patterns. Her famous Infinity Mirror Rooms took the concept even further. Mirrors, lights and reflections created spaces that appeared to stretch endlessly, giving visitors the sensation of being surrounded by an infinite universe.
Yayoi Kusama was born on March 22, 1929, in Matsumoto, Japan. She began making art at a young age and later studied traditional Japanese painting. But she wanted something different. In 1957, she moved to the United States and eventually established herself in New York's avant-garde art scene. During the 1960s, she produced paintings, sculptures and performances and became known for experimental work that challenged conventional ideas about art and the body. She also participated in anti-war happenings and wrote fiction and poetry.
Her work attracted attention from artists and critics, and she has been described as an influence on figures including Andy Warhol. Yet recognition did not come easily. Her career went through periods of obscurity before interest in her work returned strongly decades later.
For millions of people, the simplest way to recognise Yayoi Kusama is through her dots. But her artistic vocabulary was much broader.
She repeatedly returned to pumpkins, nets, mirrors, flowers and other forms. Her bright yellow pumpkin sculptures covered in black dots became particularly iconic.
Her Infinity Mirror Rooms later became major attractions at museums and exhibitions around the world. The installations were visually striking and highly immersive, helping introduce Kusama's work to audiences far beyond the traditional art world.
Her popularity also expanded into fashion and commercial collaborations, while major museums mounted exhibitions of her work.
Her paintings eventually fetched millions of dollars. One of her works, Untitled (Nets) from 1959, sold for $10.5 million in 2022, according to Reuters.
Yayoi Kusama often presented art as more than a profession. For her, it was a means of continuing to live and dealing with the psychological experiences that had followed her since childhood.
That relationship between art and survival remained visible throughout her career.
Even while living in a psychiatric hospital, she continued producing work. The Yayoi Kusama Museum said she continued painting until her final days and described her life as one devoted entirely to artistic creation.
Her circumstances might have made her story seem reclusive, but her art became anything but private.
It travelled across continents. It filled galleries. It drew enormous crowds. And the simple polka dot, repeated thousands of times, became one of the most recognisable motifs in modern contemporary art.
Kusama's death closes one of the most extraordinary careers in modern Japanese art. She spent the final decades of her life living voluntarily in a psychiatric hospital, but that did not stop her from becoming a global cultural figure. Instead, she continued to create from a studio near the hospital and built an artistic world based on repetition, infinity and self-obliteration.
The Yayoi Kusama Museum in Tokyo, which opened in 2017, remains part of that legacy. Her work has been exhibited at major institutions including the Museum of Modern Art and the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York, as well as the Tate Modern and other leading museums.
Kusama died on August 14, 2026, at a Tokyo hospital. She was 97.
Her life was marked by struggle, isolation and extraordinary artistic ambition. But above all, it was defined by the decision to keep creating, one dot, one painting and one reflection at a time.
