19 of the Best Places to See Yayoi Kusama’s Art Around the World

Japanese avant-garde artist Yayoi Kusama has died at the age of 97. With artworks ranging from polka-dot-covered pumpkin sculptures in bold contrasting colors to immersive installations that play with light and perception, Kusama's designs are as iconic as the bright red wig that she often wore.

Who was Yayoi Kusama?

From young childhood until her death, Yayoi Kusama was dedicated to creativity though her talents were not always recognized. In her early career, her artworks were often misunderstood or considered too radical in Japan's conservative culture. In the 1960s and '70s, she fought to be acknowledged within New York's male-dominated art scene – with contemporaries including Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein and Claes Oldenburg – eventually establishing herself as one of the world's most successful female artists.

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Throughout Kusama's life, she had hallucinations and struggles with mental illness, leading to depression and attempts at suicide. In 1977, she made the choice to move into a psychiatric facility in Tokyo that supported art therapy, and she continued to work from her nearby studio.

As a writer, Kusama published an autobiography, books of poetry, novels and short stories. In October 2023, she faced criticism for her racist depictions of Black people in her writings. She apologized and expressed deep regret for "hurtful and offensive language."

Around the world, there are museums, sculpture gardens and public spaces where you can see Kusama's iconic artworks. Here's our pick of the best.

Kusama in Asia and the Pacific

Yayoi Kusama Museum, Tokyo

Opened in late 2017, this small museum in Tokyo's Shinjuku area was founded by Kusama herself with a mission to honor her brilliant accomplishments and showcase her work to Japan and the rest of the world. It features two exhibitions of her work a year, from early watercolors and oil paintings to 3D installations and large-scale acrylics.

Pumpkin, Benesse House Museum, Naoshima

On the south coast of Naoshima, on a solitary pier leading out to the sea, the Tadao Ando–designed Benesse House Museum features perhaps Kusama’s most famous polka-dot pumpkin, made of fiber-reinforced plastic measuring 2m high and 2.5m wide. Installed in 1994, it was her first gourd designed with an outdoor location in mind. Following typhoon damage in August 2021, it has been reinforced and replaced at its original site.

Echigo-Tsumari Art Field, Tokamachi

A rural al fresco gallery in the Niigata prefecture, Tokamachi’s Echigo-Tsumari Art Field is home to Tsumari in Bloom, a sprawling large-scale floral piece the artist once called her favorite open-air creation.

Matsumoto City Museum of Art, Matsumoto City

Located in Kusama’s hometown of Matsumoto City, this art museum is home to the 10m-tall Visionary Flowers, Kusama's largest outdoor's sculpture.

Towada Art Center, Aomori

The Aomori Prefecture’s contemporary Towada Art Center has a cluster of eight polka-dot-spackled sculptures permanently installed outside: an oversized yellow-and-black pumpkin and whimsical, colorful dogs, mushrooms and a girl named Hanako-chan, collectively titled Love Forever, Singing in Towada.

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Gardens by the Bay, Singapore

A Kusama work features among many whimsical sculptures within Singapore's Gardens by the Bay. Kei-Chan is a large-scale figure of a girl covered in vibrant colors and her iconic polka-dot motif.

National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, Australia

The NGV in Melbourne is home to four works by Kusama. On permanent display is the vast Dancing Pumpkin, a black and yellow sculpture with eleven tentacle-like legs that give the sense of motion.

Kusama in the Americas

Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, Canada

In 2018, this Ontario institution crowdfunded more than $650,000 toward the cost of adding Kusama's INFINITY MIRRORED ROOM - LET'S SURVIVE FOREVER to the gallery's collection. It features a seemingly endless reflection of silver orbs using a central mirrored column and reflective spheres hanging from the ceiling.

The Broad, Los Angeles, California, USA

LA’s contemporary-art fave boasts two infinity rooms: The Souls of Millions of Light Years Away and Longing for Eternity as part of its permanent collection, although both are not always open. Check online and make reservations for The Souls... in advance.

Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville, Arkansas, USA

Northwestern Arkansas’ American-art gem counts two pieces in its permanent collection. Infinity Mirrored Room - My Heart Is Dancing into the Universe is packed with endless color and polka-dot lanterns that disorientate and delight. Flowers that Bloom Now is a brightly painted stainless-steel sculpture planted near one of the museum’s outdoor trails.

Rubell Museum, Miami, Florida, USA

It’s an embarrassment of Kusama riches at the Rubell in Miami, with an ongoing display of three of the artist’s interactive works: two infinity rooms – Let’s Survive Forever and Where the Lights in My Heart Go – and Narcissus Garden, a piece dating to the 1966 Venice Biennale and comprising 700 ultra-shiny stainless-steel spheres arranged along a 60m stretch of the museum’s main hall.

WNDR, Chicago, Illinois, USA

Enter a room of brightly colored tentacles at this immersive-art site (pronounced "Wonder") in Chicago. Love is Calling is accompanied by a recording of Kusama reading out a self-penned love poem in Japanese.

Mattress Factory, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA

Pittsburgh's Mattress Factory holds two Kusama installations in its collection and has both on long-term display. The Infinity Dots Mirrored Room plays with mirrors, black light and color. Go through the mirrored doors and enter Repetitive Vision, where white mannequins, covered in red dots, are reflected endlessly in a mirror-lined room.

Phoenix Art Museum, Phoenix, Arizona, USA

A highlight of a visit to Phoenix Art Museum is the mixed-media infinity room featuring a sea of twinkling LED lights aptly titled You Who Are Getting Obliterated in the Dancing Swarm of Fireflies.

Instituto de Arte Contemporânea Inhotim, Brumadinho, Brazil

A version of the famed sculpture that Kusama originally debuted at the 1966 Venice Biennale is one of the star attractions at the open-air museum Inhotim, near Belo Horizonte, Brazil. Encompassing 750 stainless steel spheres gliding across a thin layer of water, Narcissus Garden Inhotim acts – as the artist once put it – as “a kinetic carpet” that moves with the wind for an ever-changing display. Galeria Yayoi Kusama is the gateway to two installations. I'm Here, But Nothing is a domestic room covered with dots of fluorescent lighting; Aftermath of Obliteration of Eternity is a mirrored room filled with orange lanterns.

Kusama in Europe

Esplanade François Mitterrand, Lille, France

Kusama’s 7m-tall fiberglass and concrete sculpture Les Tulipes De Shangri-La has pride of place on the Esplanade François Mitterrand in Lille between Lille Europe station and Westfield.

Kistefos, Jevnaker, Norway

Kusama’s largest Nordic sculpture is found in a mill-turned-sculpture-park just outside of Oslo. Shine of Life is a site-specific work featuring the artist’s signature giant tentacles, here made of cast iron, painted bright red and speckled with polka dots, rising from and reflected in the water.

Liverpool Street, London, England

Kusama was commissioned for Infinite Accumulation, a site-specific work that opened outside the Elizabeth Line entrance to Liverpool Street station in London in 2024. At over 10m high and 12m long, its polished orbs and twisting form fill this public space, reflecting the world around them.

Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Humlebæk, Denmark

Just 30km north of Copenhagen, Louisiana’s Gleaming Lights of the Souls is an infinity room with a central reflecting pool. Stand in the middle of the water as hundreds of glowing lamps surround you.