The Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama died at 95, solidifying her position as one of the greatest contemporary artists in the world. In her 2002 autobiography, she revealed that she began having hallucinations at age 10, when she saw red flowers from a tablecloth spreading across her entire surroundings, including her own body. These hallucinations became the central raw material of all her work.
The artist developed a unique visual language, marked by the endless repetition of colorful dots, pumpkins, flowers, and phallic objects. By continuously reproducing these forms, Kusama said she was able to "suppress the fear" caused by the hallucinations. "I devote myself to art to correct the deficiency that began in my childhood," she declared.
With more than seven decades of career, her work became immediately recognizable, comparable to Andy Warhol's pop art or Marcel Duchamp's readymades. Kusama stated that she would face Picasso and Matisse with her colorful dots, demonstrating the confidence she had in her singular contribution to art history.
