Yayoi Kusama

The definitive catalog offering an in-depth exploration of Yayoi Kusama's seven-decade career, including rare early works and new productions

This catalog accompanies the Fondation Beyeler's major autumn 2025 exhibition dedicated to the celebrated Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama (born 1929). As the first retrospective of Kusama's work in Switzerland, this landmark publication offers a comprehensive exploration of her more than seven-decade career. Developed in close collaboration with the artist and her studio, the catalog presents an in-depth look at Kusama's diverse body of work, from her early creations--some never before seen in Europe--to her most iconic pieces, as well as new productions and one of her renowned Infinity Mirror rooms. Richly illustrated, the catalog examines Kusama's signature artistic language, characterized by obsessive repetition and boundless mirrored spaces that transport viewers into infinite realms. It serves as an essential reference for anyone seeking to understand Kusama's enduring impact on contemporary art.
Yayoi Kusama (born 1929) has worked not only in sculpture and installation but also painting, performance, video art, fashion, poetry, fiction and other arts. With her late-1950s move to New York City, she joined the ranks of the avant-garde, working in soft sculpture and influencing the likes of Warhol and Oldenburg. At this time, she was also involved with happenings and other performance-oriented works and began to deploy her signature dots. Her work fell into relative obscurity after her return to Japan in 1973, but a subsequent revival of interest in the 1980s elevated her work to the canonical status it still enjoys today.