Message from the Chairman Tatehata

It is with profound sorrow that we announce that Yayoi Kusama passed away on August 14, 2026.
Throughout an extraordinary lifetime devoted entirely to artistic creation, Kusama pursued an internationally acclaimed career as a pioneering avant-garde artist whose creative practice encompassed visual art, performance, fiction, and poetry. She continued to paint until her final days, never setting aside her brush, and remained steadfast in her lifelong belief that love can save the world. We would like to express our deepest gratitude for the friendship, encouragement, and generous support that you extended to Kusama throughout her life.

Born in Matsumoto, Nagano Prefecture, in 1929, Yayoi Kusama began painting in childhood. Her singular visionary imagery and exceptional powers of depiction attracted the attention of the art world while she was still young. After moving to the United States in 1957, Kusama worked prolifically on her series of Net paintings and soft sculptures, quickly coming to prominence as an artist at the forefront of a new art scene in New York.

She subsequently expanded her activities to Europe, and from the mid-1970s onward, made Tokyo the base of her practice. It is also true that there was a period when her radical activities, rooted in her psychological condition, were met with misunderstanding by the public. From 1993, when she was selected as the artist for the Japan Pavilion at the Venice Biennale, however, international recognition of her work gathered renewed momentum, culminating in her receipt of the Order of Culture in 2016. Major museums in Japan and abroad have since presented a succession of retrospectives of her work, with another scheduled to open at the Stedelijk Museum in the Netherlands on September 11 this year.

There is an old expression in Japanese, “A great star has fallen.” It may not be the most fitting phrase with which to mourn an artist. Yet, having walked alongside Kusama for so many years, I cannot help but feel a profound sense of loss at the sudden disappearance from before my eyes of someone whose presence radiated an aura as immense as that of a great star.

And yet Kusama was an artist who devoted herself ceaselessly to her work, without pausing for even a moment. We, too, must not remain where we are. We must carry forward the mission entrusted to the Foundation: to honor her achievements and to uphold her aspiration to save the world through love.

We sincerely ask for your continued understanding and support as we carry this mission forward.

Akira Tatehata
Chairman
YAYOI KUSAMA FOUNDATION