Yayoi Kusama, the celebrated Japanese artist famed for her polka-dot paintings, pumpkin sculptures, and immersive "Infinity Mirror Rooms," died at the age of 97. Kusama’s company announced on Thursday, August 27, that she passed away from multiple organ failure at a hospital in Tokyo on August 14.

Born in 1929 in Matsumoto, Japan, Kusama had a troubled childhood marked by family conflict. She openly spoke about her lifelong hallucinations, telling reporters in 2017, "Dots come flying everywhere – on my dress, the floor, things I’m carrying, throughout the house, the ceiling."

After studying art in Japan, Kusama moved to the United States in the late 1950s, quickly gaining recognition in New York’s avant-garde scene with her net paintings, soft sculptures, and body painting events protesting the Vietnam War. She returned to Japan in 1973 and voluntarily admitted herself to a psychiatric hospital in Tokyo in 1977, where she lived for the remainder of her life. Each morning, she was driven to a nearby studio to continue her work.

David Zwirner, an art dealer who represented Kusama for 15 years, said she "was without a doubt the most famous living artist in the world" at the time of her passing. Kusama’s company stated, "Until the very end, she never put down her paintbrush, continuing to explore eternal love and the soul."

Her legacy includes transforming her hallucinations into a wide range of art forms, from dot-covered paintings and pumpkin sculptures to the iconic Infinity Mirror Room installations.

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