Yayoi Kusama // Coffee Cup, 1979

  • Yayoi Kusama, Coffee Cup, 1979. Acrylic on canvas, 41 × 31.8 cm. Signed, titled, and dated. A domestic subject reimagined through Kusama’s obsessive vision and introspective practice.
    Coffee Cup, 1979
    Acrylic on canvas, 41 × 31.8 cm (18 × 15 in.)
    © Yayoi Kusama.  Image reproduced for educational and informational purposes only. 
    Back to Yayoi Kusama Originals page
     
    Painted in 1979, Coffee Cup exemplifies Kusama’s transformation of ordinary domestic objects into symbols charged with psychological intensity. During this period, she returned to Japan and worked in a more introspective mode, focusing on modest-scale canvases that carried forward the motifs of repetition, accumulation, and infinity developed in her earlier practice. By choosing an everyday subject, Kusama blurred the line between art and daily life, turning a simple vessel into a site of personal meaning and obsessive vision.
     
    This work highlights her broader artistic philosophy of infusing the familiar with new resonance through pattern and form. This process allowed her to translate internal experiences into visible, enduring symbols.

  • “I create art for the healing of all mankind.”

     – Yayoi Kusama

    By reimagining something as simple as a coffee cup, Kusama revealed her ability to transform the ordinary into a vessel of psychological and symbolic depth. These modest works from the late 1970s demonstrate how her practice was rooted not just in radical performance but also in finding meaning through repetition and introspection. Each everyday object became an opportunity to channel her inner visions, turning private experience into universal reflection.