Summary of Key Points
Yayoi Kusama (who passed away at the age of 97) was one of the most influential artists in post-war Japan, with a life filled with contradictions. The dots and nets that originated from her childhood hallucinations served both as a tool to combat fear and became her iconic symbols. In the 1960s, she experimented with avant-garde art in New York, but faced marginalization due to her gender and nationality, resulting in unsold works. In her middle age, she returned to Japan and was admitted to a psychiatric hospital, yet she continued to create. In her later years, thanks to the revision of feminist art history, the expansion of art galleries, and the rise of social media, she transformed from an "overlooked avant-garde artist" into a phenomenon-level internet celebrity, with her works experiencing significant value increases in auctions and commercial collaborations. She held a paintbrush in her hands until the very end of her life, using art to fight against fear, death, and a fate of being ignored.
1. Dots Are Not "Cute"; They Are Weapons Against Fear
As a child, Kusama frequently experienced hallucinations where dots on tablecloths would spread to walls, floors, and even onto her body, and flowers would seem to speak. This feeling of being engulfed by the world filled her with fear. She found a solution: by repeatedly drawing these dots and nets, she turned the uncontrollable hallucinations into可控 visual images. For example, her early work "Infinity Net" covered the canvas with tiny arcs, lacking a center or boundaries, mirroring the endless spread of her visions. This "compulsive creativity" became her signature style, with red wigs, polka-dot clothing, and yellow pumpkins all becoming artistic symbols that emerged from her childhood fears.
2. New York: An "Outsider" Who Was Always a Step Ahead
In 1958, at the age of 29, Kusama traveled to New York with a meager amount of money and lived in a cold attic, unable to afford even paint. Yet, she created the work "Infinity Net," which was larger than a person. At that time, Abstract Expressionism (such as Jackson Pollock's drip paintings) was popular in New York, but her works were calm and monochromatic, with almost no visible brushstrokes, resembling later Minimalism. Even Donald Judd, a master of Minimalism, paid $200 (in four installments) for one of her paintings, calling it "the best new painting of its time."
However, she remained an outsider: as a Japanese woman, no gallery was willing to represent her long-term. Her soft sculptures and mirror room experiments were later "borrowed" by male artists, but she was never credited for their originality. In 1966, she sold mirror balls at the Venice Biennale for $2 each, only to be criticized by the organizers for being similar to selling hot dogs. She became a "strange figure" in the tabloids, but her works still did not sell. In 1973, her mental health deteriorated, and she left New York to return to Japan.
3. "Invisible Creation" in the Psychiatric Hospital: Rediscovered by Art History
After returning to Japan, Kusama voluntarily stayed in a psychiatric hospital, spending her days painting and writing novels in a nearby studio and returning to her ward at night. This routine lasted for nearly 50 years. Her novel "Manhattan Attempted Suicidists" even won a literary award.
It was not until the late 1980s that curator Alexandra Munro discovered her work, realizing that it connected various artistic movements such as Pop Art, Minimalism, and Surrealism, yet it had been overlooked by art history due to her gender and nationality. A 1989 retrospective exhibition brought her scattered works together, and feminist art history began to question why the history of art was dominated by men. In 1993, she finally represented Japan at the Venice Biennale—27 years after she had sold mirror balls on the lawn, she was now invited to the national pavilion.
4. The Era of Selfies: From "Avant-Garde" to "Phenomenal Internet Celebrity"
Kusama's second rise to fame coincided with two major trends:
- Art Galleries Need Crowds: Large art galleries increasingly relied on exhibitions that could attract crowds, and her "Infinity Mirror Rooms" perfectly fit this need. In these enclosed spaces, mirrors reflected countless glowing dots, making the viewers part of the artwork, and the resulting photos were perfect for sharing on social media. During her 2017 North American tour, tickets were in high demand; her retrospective in Melbourne attracted 570,000 visitors, becoming the most successful ticketed exhibition in the gallery's history.
- Commercial Collaborations: She collaborated with Louis Vuitton twice, featuring dots and pumpkins on bags and clothing, which were sold in stores around the world. Her works continued to set new prices in auctions, making her one of the most valuable female artists.
Some criticized her for being "consumed by capitalism," but she had already embraced this concept; selling mirror balls in the 1960s was an example of treating art as a commodity. Social media simply amplified the "narcissism" in her works (where viewers see themselves reflected in the mirrors) to a global audience.
5. Art Is the Reason to Keep Going: Painting Until the Last Moment
Kusama always said, "Art is the way I live." She endured hallucinations, poverty, marginalization, and mental illness, but never put down her paintbrush. Even in her final days, she was creating. The obituary for her studio simply stated, "Until the last days of her life, she never put down her paintbrush."
The theme of "self-dissolution" is central to her works: people losing their boundaries within the endless dots and reflections. In reality, she went from being a forgotten figure in art history to a globally recognized cultural symbol. Her story teaches us that art is not only about creation but also about the power to fight against one's fate.
Even after her death, her exhibitions continued. A retrospective in Amsterdam opens in September, where visitors can still enter the mirror rooms and see themselves reflected in the countless mirrors. For many, this is the beginning of getting to know her; yet, she had been painting for nearly 80 years.