Yayoi Kusama // Pumpkins

  • Yayoi Kusama, silver pumpkin sculpture with red interior, displayed on a plinth, combining reflective metal surface with signature pumpkin form.

    Yayoi Kusama, Pumpkin Sculpture.

    ©art_inthecity from Montréal, CA, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

    The pumpkin is one of Yayoi Kusama’s most enduring and recognisable motifs, rooted in her childhood in Matsumoto, Japan. She has often spoken of drawing pumpkins from an early age, fascinated by their organic forms, warm colours, and sense of familiarity. For Kusama, the pumpkin became a source of comfort and stability during years marked by psychological struggle, and this attachment carried into her mature artistic practice.
     
    Her first major presentation of the motif came in the 1940s through drawings and paintings, and by the late 1970s and 1980s she had returned to pumpkins in bold acrylic works. In 1993, Kusama represented Japan at the Venice Biennale with her celebrated pumpkin sculptures, confirming the motif as central to her international identity. Since then, pumpkins have appeared across her paintings, sculptures, prints, and large-scale public commissions, each variation highlighting their symbolic power.
  • ©Ncysea, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

  • “I love pumpkins for their humorous form, warm feeling, and a human-like quality. My desire to celebrate them goes beyond expression; they embody a spiritual balance and bring me comfort.”

     

     — Yayoi Kusama

    Pumpkins span the full range of Kusama’s practice, appearing in paintings, sculptures, prints, and her celebrated Infinity Mirror Rooms. In acrylic canvases, they are rendered with rhythmic dots and nets, while in sculpture, they take on playful, monumental scale, often installed outdoors or in galleries as oversized forms. Inside the Infinity Rooms, glowing pumpkins multiply infinitely through mirrors, transforming a familiar object into an immersive landscape. For Kusama, the pumpkin is more than a recurring motif, it is a symbol of comfort, resilience, and whimsical strength, rooted in her childhood memories and renewed throughout her career as an emblem of her artistic identity.

    • Yayoi Kusama, Pumpkin, 1980, early sculpture featuring the artist’s iconic pumpkin motif with bold surface texture and contemporary art design.

      Pumpkin, 1980

      © Yayoi Kusama. Image reproduced for educational and informational purposes only.
    • Yayoi Kusama, Pumpkin, 2015, contemporary sculpture with iconic spotted pumpkin form in vivid colours, reflecting her signature pop-art style.

      Yayoi Kusama, Pumpkin, 2015

      ©Ziko, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
    • Yayoi Kusama, Pumpkin, 1981, early sculptural work featuring her signature pumpkin motif with textured surface and contemporary art design.

      Pumpkin, 1981

      © Yayoi Kusama. Image reproduced for educational and informational purposes only.
    • Yayoi Kusama, The Spirits of the Pumpkins Descended into the Heavens, 2021, immersive installation with glowing yellow pumpkin sculptures and mirrored reflections

      The Spirits of the Pumpkins Descended into the Heavens, 2021

      ©Shaula Haitner Pikiwiki Israel, CC BY 2.5, via Wikimedia Commons
    • Yayoi Kusama, Pumpkin, 1995, contemporary sculpture with bold yellow surface and black polka dots, iconic motif of the artist’s practice.

      Pumpkin, 1995

      © Yayoi Kusama. Image reproduced for educational and informational purposes only.

  • Exhibtions and Performance Art

    Exhibitions and performances that shaped Kusama’s legacy.     ©Lizzy Shaanan Pikiwiki Israel, CC BY 2.5, via Wikimedia Commons