Amsterdam’s Stedelijk Museum is honoring the legacy of Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama with a major exhibition that opened this week, just two weeks after her death on Aug. 14 at the age of 97. The exhibition, initially conceived as a retrospective, has become a posthumous tribute to one of the world's most recognized contemporary artists.
The centerpiece of the exhibition is Kusama's "Infinity Mirrored Room — The Hope Of The Polka Dots Buried In Infinity Will Eternally Cover The Universe," an installation featuring swirling yellow tentacles and polka dot patterns reflected infinitely in mirrors. Kusama's signature dots also adorn the museum's facade and surrounding trees.
According to exhibition curator Leontine Coelewij, the museum decided to transform the exhibition into a tribute following news of Kusama's passing. "We decided to make it really a tribute. A tribute to her life. Tribute to her work, so that everybody can see what she is ... to us. So many wonderful works," Coelewij told The Associated Press.
Kusama, known for her prolific use of polka dots and repetitive motifs, often drew inspiration from hallucinations she experienced from a young age. These mental health challenges, Coelewij explained, became a wellspring for her art, allowing her to explore themes of infinity and humanity's connection to the universe. Among the displayed works is a large pumpkin sculpture covered in black dots, made from fiber-reinforced plastic and polyurethane paint.
Kusama had a long history with the Netherlands and the Stedelijk Museum. She was active in the Dutch art scene during the 1960s and her work aligned with the ZERO movement, founded by German artists Heinz Mack and Otto Piene. Kusama participated in a significant ZERO movement exhibition at the Stedelijk in 1965. In 1967, she famously used body painting in a "happening" at the Stedelijk Museum Schiedam, where she covered the naked body of Dutch artist Jan Schoonhoven with dots.
Coelewij noted that Kusama found the Netherlands' atmosphere "rather open and tolerant, liberal," and felt at home within the country's counterculture movement of the era, with Amsterdam serving as a central hub.
The exhibition guides visitors through several rooms before leading them to the infinity room installation via a mirrored escalator. Coelewij described the space as a "hallucinating world" that allows visitors to "step into her mind."
This exhibition serves as a fitting tribute to an artist who, as she stated 10 years prior, felt her life was nearing its end but remained dedicated to her art. Kusama had expressed a desire for her work to continue to engage audiences even after her death. "I am giving all I have so that many people will continue to be interested in my art, even after I am dead," she said.
The exhibition at Amsterdam’s Stedelijk Museum runs through January 17.