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Japanese polka dot artist Yayoi Kusama dies aged 97

Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama poses for a photograph inside her Infinity Mirrored Room installation titled "The Souls of Millions of Light Years Away" during a media preview of her exhibition at the David Zwirner gallery in New York, U.S.Reuters

Kusama was famous for polka dots, pumpkins and infinity room mirrors

Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama, who became famous for her colourful polka dot-covered sculptures and installations, has died at the age of 97.

Kusama was born in 1929 in Japan.

She was known for her bright red wig and her giant, quirky creations.

Her exhibitions drew large crowds around the world, and her vibrant works fetched some of the highest ever prices for a female artist.

Keep reading to see some of her amazing art.

Yayoi Kusama with red wig, red top with a large giant spot and goggles, in front of a red and white spotty tentacle-like artwork.Getty Images

Kusama became one of the world's most recognisable artists and a global cultural icon in her 80s and 90s.

In 1965, her work "Infinity Mirror Rooms", in which mirrors and lights created seemingly endless spaces, attracted millions of visitors.

Later, her polka dot and pumpkin works became highly sought-after.

A series of intertwining tentacles in black and yellow polka dot run through a large room with mirrors in the centre, with visitors walking through it, in Basel in 2025.AFP via Getty Images

She blended balloon installations with her trademark polka dot style

Kusama won lots of prizes and in 2022, one of her paintings fetched about $10.5m (£7.7m) at auction.

That made her works some of the highest-earning in the world for a female artist.

A visitor standing in one of Kusama's Infinity Rooms, seen reflected several times in mirrors surrounded by lights.Getty Images

Kusama's Infinity Rooms immersed visitors in the installation using mirrors and lights

She held major exhibitions around the world, including one at the Tate Modern gallery in London, which ran for three years after being extended several times because it was so popular.

The exhibition invited visitors into the artist's Infinity Mirror Rooms.

A composite image shows on the left the sculpture bent over the store painting dots that cover the facade of the building, and on the right a depiction of the huge sculpture in the likeness of Yayoi Kusama standing up between the headquarters of the Maison Louis Vuitton and the Samaritaine department store on March 06, 2023 in Paris, France.AFP / Chesnot via Getty Images

A sculpture of Yayoi Kusama in Paris in 2023

Social media fuelled a spike in interest over recent years.

Her museum's bold floral shapes and shiny steel orbs turning into a backdrop for selfies and poses.

View of several of Kusama's giant colourful sculptures in Manchester.

Kusama staged a major exhibition in Manchester in 2023

Among her many motifs, the pumpkin has become iconic in her works.

To her, the vegetable represented comfort.

She once said in an interview: "Pumpkins speak to me.

"They embody a sense of stability and gives me peace of mind."