Yayoi Kusama // Pumpkin, 1993

  • Yayoi Kusama, Pumpkin, 1993. Acrylic on canvas, 73 × 90.8 cm. A 1990s painting reflecting the pumpkin as Kusama’s defining motif, merging personal symbolism with universal resonance.
    Pumpkin, 1993
    Acrylic on canvas, 73 × 90.8 cm (28 3/4 × 35 3/4 in.)
    © Yayoi Kusama. Image reproduced for educational and informational purposes only. 
    Back to Yayoi Kusama Originals page
     
    Painted in 1993, this Pumpkin demonstrates the central role the motif had assumed within Kusama’s practice by the early 1990s. First explored in her early 1940s paintings and revived in the 1970s and 1980s, the pumpkin had by this point become a symbol inseparable from her artistic identity. Its curved organic form and patterned surface made it an ideal subject for her language of repetition, accumulation, and infinity.
     
    The early 1990s also marked Kusama’s international resurgence, as major retrospectives and global exhibitions brought her signature imagery to new audiences. In works such as this, the pumpkin moved beyond personal memory and childhood comfort to become a universal emblem of resilience and humour. The repeated patterns dissolve the object into a field of abstraction while retaining its familiar shape, embodying the tension between the ordinary and the extraordinary that lies at the heart of Kusama’s art.

  • “I love pumpkins because of their humorous form, warm feeling, and a human-like quality.”

     – Yayoi Kusama

    For Kusama, the pumpkin was rooted in childhood memories and associated with feelings of comfort and stability, offering a grounding presence amid her lifelong struggles with mental health. Yet by the early 1990s, the motif had moved beyond the personal to become one of the most recognisable symbols in contemporary art. Through exhibitions, publications, and later large-scale outdoor sculptures, the pumpkin came to represent not only Kusama’s own obsessions but also the playful, immersive qualities that made her work resonate globally.