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Yayoi Kusama dies at 97 – Bangkok still has one of her pumpkins
The Japanese artist who turned polka dots into a global language has died at 97 – but one of her three-metre sculptures still stands in a Phayathai Road office tower, leaving Bangkok with a little piece of Kusama to remember her by
Yayoi Kusama died from multiple organ failure at a Tokyo hospital on August 14, aged 97, according to David Zwirner, the gallery that represented her. The Yayoi Kusama Museum and Foundation announced the news on August 27. As tributes pour in, here’s ours: a look back at Bangkok’s history with the Japanese artist – and where to see one of her pumpkins in the city today.
Kusama grew up in Matsumoto, where visual hallucinations of dots and patterns began in childhood and became the language of her art. She moved to New York in 1957 in search of artistic freedom, then returned to Japan in 1973. Four years later, she voluntarily moved into a Tokyo psychiatric hospital, working from a nearby studio for the rest of her life.
Bangkok had its own Kusama history: a 2005 show at 100 Tonson Gallery; Dots Obsession at BACC in 2009; giant pumpkins at CentralWorld and Siam Paragon for Bangkok Art Biennale 2018; and Louis Vuitton’s 101-pumpkin takeover at Parc Paragon in 2023.
Most has since moved on: exhibitions end, installations are shipped elsewhere, and the Louis Vuitton screens at The Place nod to the collaboration rather than display original Kusama works.
Yayoi Kusama dies at 97 – Bangkok still has one of her pumpkins
The Japanese artist who turned polka dots into a global language has died at 97 – but one of her three-metre sculptures still stands in a Phayathai Road office tower, leaving Bangkok with a little piece of Kusama to remember her by
Yayoi Kusama died from multiple organ failure at a Tokyo hospital on August 14, aged 97, according to David Zwirner, the gallery that represented her. The Yayoi Kusama Museum and Foundation announced the news on August 27. As tributes pour in, here’s ours: a look back at Bangkok’s history with the Japanese artist – and where to see one of her pumpkins in the city today.
Kusama grew up in Matsumoto, where visual hallucinations of dots and patterns began in childhood and became the language of her art. She moved to New York in 1957 in search of artistic freedom, then returned to Japan in 1973. Four years later, she voluntarily moved into a Tokyo psychiatric hospital, working from a nearby studio for the rest of her life.
Bangkok had its own Kusama history: a 2005 show at 100 Tonson Gallery; Dots Obsession at BACC in 2009; giant pumpkins at CentralWorld and Siam Paragon for Bangkok Art Biennale 2018; and Louis Vuitton’s 101-pumpkin takeover at Parc Paragon in 2023.
Most has since moved on: exhibitions end, installations are shipped elsewhere, and the Louis Vuitton screens at The Place nod to the collaboration rather than display original Kusama works.
