Renowned Japanese avant-garde artist Yayoi Kusama dies at 97

Yayoi Kusama, the Japanese outsider artist who achieved worldwide recognition for her polka-dot and mirror installations, died in a Tokyo hospital on 14 August at 97, according to a statement from her studio. The notice highlighted her lifelong dedication to creating visual art, performance, fiction and poetry, and emphasized that she kept painting until the end. Kusama, instantly identified by her bright red bobbed wig, first gained attention in the 1960s with “infinity net” paintings and provocative performances, later becoming a social-media phenomenon through immersive, selfie-friendly exhibitions.

After moving to New York in 1958, she worked with figures such as Donald Judd and sold her first “infinity net” to Frank Stella and Judd for $75. She spent much of her later life in a Tokyo psychiatric hospital, where she continued to produce installations that drew record auction prices and major retrospectives at institutions like MoMA, Tate Modern and the Hirshhorn Museum. Her legacy includes pioneering concepts of self-obliteration and a body of work that reshaped contemporary art despite early marginalization.