PRESENTATION: Yayoi Kusama

Yayoi Kusama’s work has transcended two of the most important art movements of the second half of the twentieth century: pop art and minimalism. Her highly influential career encompasses paintings, performances, room-size presentations, outdoor sculptural installations, literary works, films, fashion, design, and interventions within existing architectural structures, which allude at once to microscopic and macroscopic universes.

By Dimitris Lempesis
Photo: Fondation Beyeler Archive

Spanning more than seven decades, the exhibition at the Fondation Beyeler — the first solo presentation in Switzerland devoted entirely to Yayoi Kusama — traces the artist’s extraordinary journey from her early creative beginnings in postwar Japan to her status today as an icon of contemporary art. Beginning with rarely seen paintings and watercolours from the early 1950s, produced in her hometown of Matsumoto, the exhibition follows Kusama’s audacious leap to New York in the late 1950s, where she became a vital force within the avant-garde movements of the 1960s and 1970s. Her return to Japan in the 1970s marked another phase of radical reinvention, as she continued to expand her artistic language in deeply personal, poetic, and politically resonant ways. Today, Kusama stands as one of the most recognized and influential living artists, her creative energy undiminished and her vision ever more urgent. Throughout more than seventy years of artistic production, Kusama has persistently defied categorization. Her practice encompasses an astonishing range of media — painting, drawing, sculpture, installation, performance, collage, fashion, literature, and film — making her one of the most versatile and boundary-defying figures in modern art. The exhibition highlights key moments of transformation and innovation, offering an immersive portrait of an artist who continues to expand our understanding of art, perception, and experience. At the heart of Kusama’s oeuvre lies the concept of infinity — not merely as a visual motif but as a lived, spiritual, and psychological truth. Her recurring symbols — polka dots, nets, mirrors, and repeated organic forms — transcend decoration; they embody meditations on mortality, the dissolution of the self, and the yearning for transcendence. From the mesmerizing intricacy of her early Infinity Net paintings to the sensory immersion of her Infinity Mirror Rooms, Kusama invites viewers into environments that blur the boundaries between body and space, self and cosmos. These recursive realms echo the rhythmic pulse of existence, transforming repetition into revelation. Kusama’s works are not merely to be viewed, but to be experienced. Her mirrored chambers and expansive installations draw visitors into states of heightened perception and emotional suspension. Through these enveloping environments, she transforms personal struggle into shared sensation, turning vulnerability into a form of collective empowerment. Her art becomes a site of communion — a space where repetition yields both confrontation and solace, fragmentation and unity. This landmark exhibition brings together over 130 works — many never before shown in Europe — alongside new pieces created especially for this occasion. Highlights include her entrancing early paintings, the iconic “Infinity Nets” and “Accumulation” sculptures, the historic “Narcissus Garden” (1966/2025), and “Infinity Mirrored Room – Illusion Inside the Heart” (2025). A newly conceived “Infinity Mirror Room” and an immersive outdoor installation extend Kusama’s vision beyond the museum’s walls, transforming not only the ten galleries of the Fondation Beyeler but also its surrounding garden and park. Visitors will encounter a seamless dialogue between art, architecture, and nature — a vibrant interplay of color, light, and form that dissolves the boundary between interior and exterior space.Offering a multilayered encounter with one of the most compelling artists of our time, this exhibition celebrates Kusama’s boundless imagination and her lifelong quest to give form to the infinite. It is both a tribute to her enduring genius and an invitation for visitors to glimpse the endless within themselves.

Photo: Installation view «Yayoi Kusama», Fondation Beyeler, Riehen/Basel, 2025 . Yayoi Kusama, Infinity Mirrored Room – Illusion Inside the Heart, 2025, © Yayoi Kusama, Photo: Mark Niedermann

Info: Info:  Curator: Mouna Mekouar, Associate Curator: Charlotte Sarrazin, Fondation Beyeler, Baselstrasse 101, Riehen/Basel, Switzerland, Duration: 12/10/2025-25/1/2026, Days & Hours: Mon-Tue & Thu-Sun 9:00-18:00, Wed 9:00-20:00, www.fondationbeyeler.ch/