Avant-Garde Artist Yayoi Kusama Dies at 97

Yayoi Kusama, the renowned Japanese avant-garde artist, passed away at the age of 97 in a Tokyo hospital on August 14, 2026. Her death was confirmed by the companies representing her art, stating that she had continued painting until her final days. Kusama was born in Matsumoto, Nagano Prefecture, in 1929 and began drawing and painting as a child.

She experienced visions and hallucinations from an early age, which became the foundation of her artistic vocabulary. Kusama's childhood and family life were challenging, and art served as both an outlet and a means to confront the images in her mind. She described artistic creation as essential to her survival. After World War II, Kusama studied Nihonga, the traditional modern Japanese painting style, in Kyoto at the age of 19.

However, she soon moved beyond convention and pursued abstraction and her own repetitive visual language. In 1957, Kusama moved to the United States and settled in New York, where she faced financial struggles but became one of the few Japanese women attempting to establish an avant-garde career in the city. Her iconic Infinity Net paintings emerged in New York, featuring repeated arcs and loops on large canvases.

She later expanded her practice to include soft sculptures, installations with mirrors and lights, and Infinity Mirror Rooms, which became internationally famous. Kusama's work embodied a concept of "self-obliteration," in which repeated motifs such as dots spread across bodies, objects, and space, blurring the distinction between the individual and the environment.

Throughout the 1960s, Kusama was a prominent figure in New York's avant-garde circles, participating in various events, films, and performances, including anti-war happenings during the Vietnam War era. After returning to Japan in 1973, Kusama broadened her creative work to include poetry, fiction, and performances while continuing to create visual art.

Her literary career gained recognition as well. Kusama's international prominence grew significantly in the 1990s, with major exhibitions and a solo presentation at the Venice Biennale in 1993. Her Infinity Mirror Rooms and pumpkins became iconic, taking her work beyond galleries and into popular culture.