The Fondation Beyeler in Basel is presenting the first comprehensive retrospective of Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama's work in Switzerland, showcasing the 96-year-old's hallucinatory universe of polka dots, infinity rooms, and obsessive repetitions. The exhibition reveals how Kusama's art transforms personal psychological struggles into a cosmic vision that dissolves the boundaries between self and universe.
Kusama's iconic pumpkins, scattered across museums, sculpture gardens, and art fairs worldwide, represent far more than colorful objects covered in dots. Born in 1929 into a family that operated a seed nursery in rural Japan, Kusama spent her childhood "hidden under a table in the corner of our dark and overcrowded shop, making paper boxes for the seeds." This early exposure to the cycle of growth from tiny seeds to full-sized vegetables profoundly shaped her artistic vision.
The artist's philosophy extends beyond the visible world into subatomic and cosmic realms. "A pumpkin is not just a pumpkin. It is also a small dot," reflects her understanding that everything consists of points at the subatomic level, while the universe appears as a sea of luminous dots in the night sky. Her wall-filling paintings composed entirely of dots create optical illusions where the eye loses itself in imaginary space, while her mirror rooms make viewers hallucinate as dots dance before their eyes.
During the wild 1960s in New York's art scene, Kusama became known as the "Polka-Dot Queen" or "Princess of Points" when she painted polka-dot patterns on her own naked body and those of her hippie friends. These performances, part of her "Self-Obliteration" series, literally dissolved bodies into pixel-like grids, making them disappear into infinite patterns.
The Beyeler exhibition features Kusama's famous "Narcissus Garden," originally displayed at the 1966 Venice Biennale with 1500 silver spheres flooding a meadow. Now installed in the pond outside Renzo Piano's building, countless large chrome spheres multiply reflections of viewers and surroundings into infinity. The show also includes a specially created Infinity Mirror Room filled with inflatable, polka-dotted tentacles where visitors can see themselves reflected hundreds of times.
Kusama's textile sculptures from the 1960s and 1970s reveal the psychological dimensions underlying her work. Her "Soft Sculptures" feature phallic protrusions covering furniture and clothing, all rendered in monochrome silver or white. Minimal Art artist Donald Judd, her New York neighbor, reportedly helped her sew these stuffed phallic forms. These works echo Louise Bourgeois' phallus sculptures from the same period and reveal similar psychological motivations.
The artist has never hidden that her entire body of work stems from a fear of dissolution and childhood hallucinations of dots and patterns. Regarding her penis sculptures, she later explained: "The thought alone of a phallus penetrating me is horrifying. That's why I make so many penises... so many that I am buried by their expressiveness. I call this obliteration." Her creative process embodies a philosophy of self-obliteration as a means of coping with anxieties.
One of her most powerful early works, "Aggregation: One Thousand Boats Show" from 1963, features a white rowboat covered with phalli, positioned in a black room. To intensify the physical impact of this first room-filling work, she photographed herself naked within the installation. This piece expresses her fear of sexuality, rooted in childhood trauma when her mother made her spy on her father's extramarital affairs.
These fears accompanied Kusama throughout her life. Following a severe burnout in the late 1970s, she returned to Japan and voluntarily admitted herself to a psychiatric clinic in Tokyo, where she has lived and worked ever since. Her characteristic approach involves not only compulsive repetition but also expresses her organic view of the world as an indivisible whole where all things and beings undergo permanent transformation.
Kusama's multidisciplinary practice extends beyond painting and sculpture to include installation, performance, film, literature, and fashion. Her ongoing series "My Eternal Soul," begun in 2009, demonstrates her continued evolution as an artist. Her worldview encompasses the dissolution of individual existence into the universal connection between microcosm and macrocosm—a concept that appears simultaneously frightening and redemptive.
The retrospective at Fondation Beyeler runs until January 25, 2026, offering visitors an unprecedented opportunity to experience the full scope of Kusama's visionary art. Through her obsessive dots and infinite reflections, the exhibition reveals how personal psychological struggles can be transformed into universal artistic statements that challenge our perception of reality and identity.
