For over eight decades, Yayoi Kusama has captivated audiences worldwide with her immersive “infinity mirror rooms” and iconic polka-dotted sculptures. Now, at 95 years old, the Japanese artist’s extraordinary career takes center stage in a monumental retrospective at the National Gallery of Victoria (NGV) in Melbourne, running from December 1, 2024, to April 28, 2025.
A Journey Through Infinity and Beyond
Titled simply “Yayoi Kusama,” the exhibition is one of the most extensive showcases of the artist’s work ever assembled. Featuring around 200 pieces, including her earliest childhood creations from the 1930s, the retrospective offers a profound exploration of Kusama’s life and legacy. Among the highlights is a newly commissioned piece, Infinity Mirrored Room—My Heart is Filled to the Brim With Sparkling Light. Dedicated to the people of Melbourne, this mesmerizing installation features mirrored spheres perforated with holes that emit radiant hues of blue, purple, red, and green. Kusama describes the work as a “message of love to the world.”
“It is love that illuminates our lives and makes life beautiful,” Kusama writes. “I aim to deliver in my art a heartfelt prayer. My hope is to experience the beauty of a world where peace and love have fully arrived.”
The Therapy of Art
Kusama’s art is deeply personal, stemming from a lifelong struggle with mental health. She began using polka dots and repetitive patterns as a way to cope with intrusive hallucinations that first appeared in childhood. Since 1977, Kusama has voluntarily lived in a psychiatric treatment facility in Tokyo, channeling her experiences into breathtaking works of art. “Even when she was a child, she found the production of art very therapeutic,” says Wayne Crothers, NGV’s senior curator of Asian art. “By harnessing her obsession, she created something truly awe-inspiring.”
Iconic Works on Display
The exhibition spans Kusama’s entire career, from early sketches to globally celebrated masterpieces. Visitors can marvel at pieces like Dancing Pumpkin (2020), a monumental 16-foot-tall bronze gourd with writhing, tentacle-like legs covered in Kusama’s signature yellow and black dots. Narcissus Garden (1966/2024) reimagines her iconic installation with 1,400 stainless steel silver balls, while The Hope of the Polka Dots Buried in Infinity Will Eternally Cover the Universe (2019) immerses visitors in an environment of nearly 20-foot-tall worm-like forms cloaked in yellow polka dots. Outside the gallery, Kusama has transformed the streetscape with Ascension of Polka Dots on the Trees, wrapping 60 plane trees in custom white and pink polka-dot fabric, creating a playful and surreal urban intervention.
The Art of Transformation
Sasha Grishin, an art historian at Australian National University, describes the retrospective as “profoundly moving.” Beneath the glittering surface of Kusama’s work lies “a suppressed scream of pain” and a yearning to dissolve identity through infinite repetition. As Crothers notes, “This is a life pursuit that spans eight and a half decades. There’s never been another artist you could do this with, anywhere in the world.” For those lucky enough to attend, the exhibition is more than just an artistic experience—it’s an invitation to immerse yourself in Kusama’s world of infinite love, hope, and transformation.
