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Yayoi Kusama, high priestess of polka dots, has died
Confirmed
August 26, 2026 / 11:59 PM EDT / AP Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama, who splashed her signature polka dots on paintings, sculptures and museum installations around the world, has died, her studio said Thursday. "Polka dots are fabulous," Kusama said in a 2012 interview with The Associated Press, appearing in her signature orange bobcut wig and polka dot-covered attire.
Kusama insisted she drew the way she saw the world — covered with spots, part of the hallucinations she said she had from childhood. An announcement made on her official website by her company on Thursday said that she died on 14 August.
"I still see hallucinations even now," Kusama said in 2017. In a statement issued on Wednesday, her representative David Zwirner said Kusama passed away from "multiple organ failure" at a Tokyo hospital on Aug. 14.
Kusama, who also made films and published several novels, said she wasn't sure where she got her ideas. Kusama, who was candid about her mental health struggles, said that New York gave her neuroses.
She signed on with fashion brands like Louis Vuitton as well as other licensed products like teacups, T-shirts and key chains with her illustrations, including replicas of her likeness that were used in show windows and other marketing.
"She continued to paint until her final days, never setting aside her brush, and continued exploration of forever love and eternal soul," the studio's statement said. "I want to create a thousand paintings, maybe two thousand paintings, as many as I can draw," she said in her childlike but matter-of-fact tone.
"I feel there is little left in my life, but I am now still fighting to the death for my art," she said.
What's confirmed
- August 26, 2026 / 11:59 PM EDT / AP Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama, who splashed her signature polka dots on paintings, sculptures and museum installations around the world, has died, her studio said Thursday.
- "She continued to paint until her final days, never setting aside her brush, and continued exploration of forever love and eternal soul," the studio's statement said.
- "I want to create a thousand paintings, maybe two thousand paintings, as many as I can draw," she said in her childlike but matter-of-fact tone.
- Kusama insisted she drew the way she saw the world — covered with spots, part of the hallucinations she said she had from childhood.
- She signed on with fashion brands like Louis Vuitton as well as other licensed products like teacups, T-shirts and key chains with her illustrations, including replicas of her likeness that were used in show windows…
- An announcement made on her official website by her company on Thursday said that she died on 14 August.
- "I still see hallucinations even now," Kusama said in 2017.
What's still developing
- In a statement issued on Wednesday, her representative David Zwirner said Kusama passed away from "multiple organ failure" at a Tokyo hospital on Aug. 14.
- "Polka dots are fabulous," Kusama said in a 2012 interview with The Associated Press, appearing in her signature orange bobcut wig and polka dot-covered attire.
- "I feel there is little left in my life, but I am now still fighting to the death for my art," she said.
- Kusama, who also made films and published several novels, said she wasn't sure where she got her ideas.
- Kusama, who was candid about her mental health struggles, said that New York gave her neuroses.