{
  "id": 3664074,
  "title": "Yayoi Kusama, who splashed polka dots across art world, dies at 97 in Tokyo",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/08/27/yayoi-kusama-who-splashed-polka-dots-across-art-world-dies-at-97-in-3664074",
  "topic": "world",
  "section": "World",
  "published": "2026-08-27T04:27:03.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "The Korea Times",
    "slug": "the-korea-times-koreatimes",
    "url": "https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/world/20260827/yayoi-kusama-who-splashed-polka-dots-across-art-world-dies-at-97-in-tokyo"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama, known for her signature polka dots on paintings, sculptures and museum installations worldwide, has passed away at the age of 97, her studio announced on Thursday. Kusama breathed her last on August 14 at a hospital in Tokyo, as per reports from Yayoi Kusama Studio. The statement from the studio noted that Kusama continued to paint until her final days, maintaining her brush and exploring her themes of \"forever love and eternal soul.\" The studio pledged to uphold Kusama's wishes, carrying forward her legacy through art to inspire hope and strength globally. A respected figure in Japan's contemporary art scene, Kusama exhibited her work extensively worldwide, including at the Museum of Modern Art and the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York. Her distinctive art style was characterized by repetitive motifs, often in the form of dots, ranging from netting, swirls, worms, to more striking forms like sparkling balls or dots of light in her installations, all bathed in vibrant psychedelic hues. Kusama once remarked, \"Polka dots are fabulous.\"",
  "summary": "AP-AS-Japan-Obit-Yayoi-Kusama, 2nd Ld-Writethru TOKYO — Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama, who splashed her signature polka dots on paintings, sculptures and museum installations around the world, has died, her studio said Thursday. She was 97. Kusama died Aug. 14 at a hospital in Tokyo, Yayoi Kusama Studio said. “She continued to paint until her final days, never setting aside her brush, and…",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 6,
    "also_reported_by": [
      {
        "outlet": "Winnipeg Free Press",
        "title": "Yayoi Kusama, who splashed polka dots across art world, dies at 97 in Tokyo",
        "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/08/27/yayoi-kusama-who-splashed-polka-dots-across-art-world-dies-at-97-in-3655284",
        "published": "2026-08-27T02:58:35.000Z"
      },
      {
        "outlet": "ABC News AU",
        "title": "Yayoi Kusama, Japanese artist who turned hallucinations into art, dies at 97",
        "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/08/27/yayoi-kusama-japanese-artist-who-turned-hallucinations-into-art-dies",
        "published": "2026-08-27T03:01:17.000Z"
      },
      {
        "outlet": "Associated Press",
        "title": "Yayoi Kusama, who splashed polka dots across art world, dies at 97 in Tokyo",
        "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/08/27/yayoi-kusama-who-splashed-polka-dots-across-art-world-dies-at-97-in",
        "published": "2026-08-27T03:23:02.000Z"
      },
      {
        "outlet": "ABC News (US)",
        "title": "Yayoi Kusama, who splashed polka dots across art world, dies at 97 in Tokyo",
        "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/08/27/yayoi-kusama-who-splashed-polka-dots-across-art-world-dies-at-97-in-3667367",
        "published": "2026-08-27T03:29:03.000Z"
      },
      {
        "outlet": "The Korea Times",
        "title": "Yayoi Kusama, who splashed polka dots across art world, dies at 97 in Tokyo",
        "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/08/27/yayoi-kusama-who-splashed-polka-dots-across-art-world-dies-at-97-in-3669738",
        "published": "2026-08-27T05:02:03.000Z"
      }
    ]
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}