Yayoi Kusama, Japanese artist who turned hallucinations into art, dies at 97

Japanese avant-garde artist Yayoi Kusama, renowned for her transformative approach to mental hallucinations in art, has passed away at the age of 97. The National Gallery of Victoria in Melbourne, Australia, paid tribute to Kusama's work through an immersive retrospective in 2024, which quickly became the most visited exhibition in the country's history, attracting over 500,000 visitors by April 2025.

Kusama's influence extends beyond her native Japan, as one of her sculptures, "Flowers that Bloom in the Cosmos," now stands outside the Art Gallery of New South Wales in Sydney, a testament to her enduring impact on the global art scene.

Born in 1929, Kusama's artistic journey began when she left her home country at the age of 27, drawn by the allure of New York City. There, she found her voice as a painter, creating works inspired by the visions of flashing lights, dots, and flowers that had haunted her since childhood. Her art, marked by obsessive dot patterns and pumpkin motifs, garnered her recognition and admiration from fellow artists, including Andy Warhol.

Kusama's mental health struggles were a significant part of her life. In 1977, after returning to Japan, she voluntarily entered a mental hospital and remained there for several decades, with studio visits being her sole daily routine. Despite her condition, Kusama continued to paint, recounting in 2017 that the hallucinations persisted, with dots constantly appearing on her clothes, floor, and possessions, even within her own home.