Character Catalog

A series of monumental canvases entirely covered by hand with an obsessive network of small arcs forming net-like patterns. These foundational works establish the principle of infinite repetition that defines her entire artistic output.

An armchair covered with hundreds of phallic forms made from white cotton-stuffed fabric. This provocative accumulation sculpture is one of the first to give physical form to the repetitive compulsion at the heart of her practice.

The first 'Infinity Mirror Room': an entire space lined with mirrors, its floor covered with red polka-dotted phalluses. Visitors find themselves surrounded by their own reflection multiplied endlessly — an experience that is both unsettling and mesmerizing.

An installation at the Venice Biennale consisting of 1,500 stainless steel spheres arranged across a garden. Kusama illegally sold them for $2 each, protesting the commodification of art — she was eventually removed by the organizers.

An immersive room enclosed by mirrors on all four walls and on the floor (a shallow pool of water), dotted with hundreds of small suspended lights. The experience creates a sensation of floating in an infinite universe of light.

A series of large, colorful paintings featuring plant-like and organic forms rendered in multicolored dots against a black background. Exhibited at Gagosian Gallery, it marked the pinnacle of her triumphant return to the international art scene.

Giant tulip sculptures in black and white polka dots installed outside the Matsumoto City Museum of Art. This monumental work in her hometown symbolizes Kusama's reconciliation with a Japan that had long overlooked her.

I, Kusama, am the modern Alice in Wonderland. The polka dot has the form of the sun, which is a symbol of the energy of the whole world and our living life, and also the form of the moon, which is calm. Round, soft, colorful, senseless and unknowing. Polka dots become movement.

I am a young Japanese artist who has just come to the United States. I am a poor artist and I work very hard painting... Would you be so kind as to give me some advice on how to promote my work in this new country?

Our earth is like one polka dot among a million stars in the cosmos. Polka dots are a way to infinity. When we obliterate nature and our bodies with polka dots, we become part of the unity of our environment.

Art-making is my reason for existence and my way of expressing my feelings. I paint myself into existence. Without art, I might not be here at all.

Kusama's hometown, surrounded by mountains, where she grew up in a conservative family. It was here that her first hallucinations appeared and her artistic vocation was born, despite her mother's opposition.

Kusama lived here from 1958 to 1973 and reached the peak of her creative output, rubbing shoulders with Andy Warhol, Donald Judd, and Claes Oldenburg. It was in New York that she invented her happenings, accumulation sculptures, and first Infinity Rooms.

Located across from the psychiatric hospital where she resides, this studio is the heart of her current production. She goes there every day to paint, surrounded by her team, producing series of large-format works.

Kusama participated several times, most notably in 1966 when she illegally sold 1,500 gold balls in the gardens, and in 1993 when she officially represented Japan, earning international recognition.

Opened in 2017 in the Shinjuku district, this museum is entirely dedicated to her work. It hosts permanent and temporary exhibitions of her paintings, sculptures, and immersive installations.