Amsterdam Museum Unveils Kusama Retrospective as Tribute After Death

Amsterdam’s Stedelijk Museum is presenting a major retrospective of Yayoi Kusama, turning a planned survey of her seven-decade career into a tribute following the Japanese artist’s death at 97. The exhibition features more than 300 works, including about 50 shown publicly for the first time, spanning ceramics, drawings, etchings, sculptures and her iconic polka-dot pumpkins. Its centerpiece is a newly created infinity room with mirrors, yellow polka dots and tentacle-like forms that immerses visitors in the visual world associated with Kusama’s hallucinations, explorations of infinity and lifelong mental-health struggles. The museum has extended her signature style beyond the galleries by covering its façade with colorful dots and wrapping nearby trees in red-and-white polka dots. Curators say the exhibition is intended to introduce new audiences to Kusama while offering longtime followers unfamiliar works and a final presentation bearing her own finishing touches.