The Fondation Beyeler in Riehen, Switzerland, is hosting the first major retrospective of Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama in the country, featuring 300 works spanning seven decades of the 96-year-old's career. While Kusama is globally recognized for her vibrant polka dot installations and has been crowned the world's most popular artist by The Guardian, the exhibition reveals the profound psychological struggles and artistic complexities behind her seemingly cheerful aesthetic.
Kusama's iconic polka dots, which have made her work highly shareable on social media, greet visitors immediately in the foundation's entrance area. Silver spheres float in the water lily pond, recreating her famous "Narcissus Garden" installation first created in 1966 for the Venice Biennale - not as an officially invited artist, but as an act of self-empowerment. The display epitomizes what critics sometimes dismiss as Instagram-friendly art, featuring colorful patterns on walls, clothing, and serpentine forms that create a visual playground for art enthusiasts.
The exhibition's centerpiece includes two Infinity Mirror Rooms - completely mirrored spaces integrated with colored lights that create the illusion of floating in a universe of colorful stars through reflections on walls, floors, and ceilings. These immersive installations represent the ultimate "wow factor" that has contributed to Kusama's massive popular appeal. However, the retrospective demonstrates that her famous polka dots stem from much darker origins than their cheerful appearance suggests.
The repetitive dot motif, along with other all-over patterns in Kusama's work, originated from hallucinations the artist experienced as a young girl. Art became a means of liberation and self-therapy for Kusama, who moved to New York in 1957 where she achieved significant success. Despite her artistic triumphs, she returned to Japan in 1972 and has since lived voluntarily in a psychiatric clinic, continuing to create her transformative works.
The Fondation Beyeler exhibition celebrates Kusama as a "sensitive superstar" while showcasing many works that appear somber and oppressive, contrasting sharply with the popular perception of her art. Oil paintings from the 1950s rendered in red-brown colors resemble glimpses into a dark interior of the body, while surreal collages from the 1970s possess nightmare-like qualities. Throughout the exhibition, visitors encounter works that clearly reveal an artist grappling with deep psychological wounds.
The show makes the traumatized child within Kusama tangible and comprehensible, though it gives less visibility to her socially critical work. During the 1960s, she organized sexually charged happenings and political protest actions, including performances where she burned American flags. Her dots extended beyond canvas to cover horses, furniture, rooms, and even naked human bodies during happenings in New York and Utrecht, as she believed painting nude bodies would make them more beautiful.
Kusama demonstrated remarkable business acumen alongside her artistic innovation, understanding how to capture attention and market herself effectively. She temporarily operated her own fashion line, which she sold at Bloomingdale's department store in New York. The exhibition suggests that psychological pain and self-marketing don't necessarily exclude each other, though it could explore this dynamic more thoroughly.
Despite some gaps in addressing the commercial aspects of her career, the retrospective proves essential viewing for both Kusama connoisseurs and newcomers to her work. It offers particular appeal for visitors who enjoy photographing exhibitions in selfie mode, while providing deeper insight into the complex psychological and artistic foundations underlying one of contemporary art's most recognizable visual languages. The exhibition runs at the Fondation Beyeler through January 25, 2026.
