Yayoi Kusama Dies at 97 as Studio Announces Her Passing

Yayoi Kusama, the Japanese artist recognised for polka-dot installations, mirrored rooms and repeated pumpkin motifs, has died at 97. Her official studio published an announcement of her passing on Aug. 27, while The Associated Press reported that she died Aug. 14 at a hospital in Tokyo. The cause of death was not specified in the reports.

The studio’s notice appeared on the artist’s official news page without adding a cause or further medical detail. The announcement came as galleries and museums continued to list Kusama exhibitions in several countries. Her death therefore reached audiences through both the official statement and the exhibition programme that remains connected to her work.

The Yayoi Kusama Museum in Tokyo says the exhibition KUSAMA’s POP continues through Aug. 30. The museum’s public information identifies Kusama as 97 and records the Aug. 14 date of death. Her official website also lists a solo exhibition at the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam from Sept. 11, 2026, through Jan. 17, 2027.

Kusama’s work has moved between painting, sculpture, installation, performance and writing. The repeating forms in her installations have made the work immediately recognisable, but the official exhibition listings show a career that is not limited to one visual device. Her programmes have included large-scale rooms, outdoor installations and displays bringing together different periods of her practice.

The official site’s news archive also records a previous attendance milestone connected with an exhibition at Australia’s National Gallery of Victoria. That exhibition displayed 200 works and attracted more than 570,000 visitors, according to the site’s archive. The figure helps show the scale of the international audience that has followed Kusama’s work, while the current announcements remain focused on her death and scheduled exhibitions.

Visitors planning to attend a Kusama exhibition should check the individual museum’s current notice because schedules and access arrangements are set by each institution. The Tokyo show remains listed through the end of August, and the Amsterdam exhibition remains scheduled to open in September. The studio has not publicly stated a cause of death in the announcement reviewed for this report.