Yoko Ono

📷 Wikimedia Commons — CC BY 2.0 — Earl McGehee - www — 2011

1933 — ?

Japon, États-Unis

Visual ArtsMusicPerforming Arts20th Century20th century — contemporary art, Cold War, counterculture of the 1960s–1970s

Yoko Ono is a Japanese artist born in 1933 in Tokyo, a major figure in conceptual art and the Fluxus movement. A peace activist, she is also known for her artistic and political commitment alongside John Lennon. Her work explores audience participation, peace, and memory.

Famous Quotes

« Imagine all the peace in the world. A dream you dream alone is only a dream. A dream you dream together is reality. »

« Art is my life and my life is art. »

Key Facts

1933: born in Tokyo into an aristocratic Japanese family
1960: co-founder of the Fluxus movement in New York, which revolutionized the concept of the artwork
1966: creation of the participatory work 'Instruction Paintings', inviting the public to co-create
1969: 'Bed-In for Peace' campaigns with John Lennon against the Vietnam War
1971: exhibition 'This is not here' at the Everson Museum, dedicated to conceptual art

Works & Achievements

Cut Piece (1964)

A performance in which the audience is invited to cut away the artist's clothing: a founding work of participatory art that questions violence, gender, and the relationship to the body.

Grapefruit — A Book of Instructions and Drawings (1964)

A book of poetic and artistic instructions, and a manifesto of conceptual art that dissolves the boundary between artist and audience.

Ceiling Painting / YES Painting (1966)

An installation consisting of a white ladder allowing viewers to read the word 'YES' on the ceiling through a magnifying glass; a positive, participatory work that marked the first meeting with John Lennon.

Bed-In for Peace (Amsterdam and Montreal) (1969)

A protest performance against the Vietnam War staged with John Lennon: the couple spent a week in bed in a hotel room open to media from around the world.

Imagine Peace Tower (2006)

A permanent installation in Iceland that projects a column of light into the sky each year around John Lennon's birthday, serving as a global symbol of the call for peace.

Wish Tree (1996 (series))

A series of trees on which the public ties written wishes on paper: a participatory and universal work inspired by Japanese Shinto traditions.

Double Fantasy (album) (1980)

A double album recorded with John Lennon, released three weeks before his assassination; Yoko Ono's tracks alternate with Lennon's, reflecting the depth of their artistic dialogue.

Anecdotes

In 1964, Yoko Ono presented a performance in Tokyo titled 'Cut Piece': seated on stage, she invited the audience to cut her clothing with scissors. This radical work questioned violence, vulnerability, and the power dynamics between artist and spectator.

After meeting John Lennon in 1966 at the Indica Gallery in London, Yoko Ono invited him to climb a ladder and look through a magnifying glass at a word written on the ceiling. The word was 'YES'. Lennon later said that this positive sign had captivated him as much as the artist herself.

In 1969, John Lennon and Yoko Ono staged two 'Bed-Ins for Peace' — one in Amsterdam, the other in Montreal — staying in bed in their hotel room for a week to protest the Vietnam War. It was during the second that the song 'Give Peace a Chance' was recorded.

Since 1981, Yoko Ono has funded the upkeep of the 'Strawberry Fields' memorial in Central Park in New York, near the spot where John Lennon was murdered. She also created the 'Imagine Peace Tower' in Iceland in 2006, a column of light lit each year on Lennon's birthday.

Her work 'Grapefruit' (1964) is a book of artistic instructions — for example, 'Watch the sky until it becomes holey' — that anticipates conceptual art and invites everyone to become an artist. John Lennon read it regularly and drew inspiration from it for some of his compositions.

Primary Sources

Grapefruit — A Book of Instructions and Drawings (1964)

Drill a hole in the sky. Drill a hole in the earth. Drop a stone in each. Wait.

Statement at the Montreal Bed-In (May 1969)

We're staying in bed for a week to tell the world that we want peace, not war. Hair peace. Bed peace.

Interview in Rolling Stone Magazine (1971)

I always had the feeling that I was trying to build a better world by showing people a different kind of communication — one based on vulnerability and openness rather than power.

Speech at the Grammy Awards Ceremony (Humanitarian Award) (2014)

John's spirit is here with us. We have to remember that peace is not just the absence of war — it is a positive force, something we create together every day.

Key Places

Tokyo, Japan

Yoko Ono's birthplace, where as a child she witnessed the destruction of war, shaping her lifelong sensitivity to peace and memory.

SoHo, New York

The heart of the American avant-garde in the 1950s and 1960s, where Yoko Ono staged her first performances and encountered John Cage, the Fluxus movement, and the international art scene.

The Dakota, New York

The Upper West Side residential building where Yoko Ono and John Lennon lived; the site of Lennon's assassination in 1980 and a global symbol of the struggle for peace.

Strawberry Fields, Central Park, New York

A memorial funded by Yoko Ono in tribute to John Lennon, set within Central Park and featuring a mosaic bearing the word 'Imagine'.

Viðey Island, Iceland

Home of the Imagine Peace Tower, a permanent light installation inaugurated in 2006 by Yoko Ono to honor Lennon's memory and call for world peace.