Yayoi Kusama in Stockholm

June 15, 2016 • 2 min read

The works of artist Yayoi Kusama has arrived to Stockholm. On June 11th the acclaimed exhibition In Infinity opened at Moderna Museet (the Museum of Modern Art), located on Skeppsholmen in Stockholm. The exhibition is organised by Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Heine Onstad Kunstsenter, Helsinki Art Museum and Moderna Museet/Arkdes. It’s the first (in Scandinavia) that represent her whole artistry. 

Who is Yayoi Kusama, you might ask?

She became famous, and still is, for her dots. She left Japan for New York in 1957, to work with art. During the Vietnam war she began her experimentation with dots, first on bodies (often during orgies). The dots wasn’t a random pick of pattern; plenty of times Kusama has explained that she has retrieved them from recurring hallucinations that she’ve suffered from since her childhood. In these hallucinations, she saw the world as a square pattern of dots. Through her art, she could express it in a concrete way. Today she invites visitors to walk around thousands of dots, as she herself has seen the world many times. Since 1977 she lives at a mental hospital in Tokyo, that she voluntarily admitted herself to due to her psychiatric problems. From there she creates her art, which she is planning to do “until and after she dies”.

In Infinity exhibits Yayoi Kusamas works from the 50s up til’ today. The exhibition is in Stockholm until the 11th of September. Take the opportunity to discover Yayoi Kusamas lovely and slightly crazy world!