Stedelijk Museum opens posthumous Yayoi Kusama exhibition

The Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam has opened a major exhibition dedicated to the work of Japanese contemporary artist Yayoi Kusama. Following her death on August 14 at age 97, the exhibition has transitioned from a planned retrospective into a posthumous tribute to her life and career.

A central feature of the show is the installation titled ‘Infinity Mirrored Room — The Hope Of The Polka Dots Buried In Infinity Will Eternally Cover The Universe.’ The exhibition also includes a large pumpkin sculpture made of fiber-reinforced plastic and polyurethane paint, featuring Kusama’s signature black dots on a yellow surface.

Curator Leontine Coelewij noted that the artist’s use of repetitive motifs and dots was a way to process hallucinations she experienced from a young age and to explore concepts of infinity and the cosmos. Kusama maintained long-standing connections to the Netherlands, having been active in Amsterdam and other Dutch cities during the 1960s.