Yayoi Kusama: Fighting Woman / Painting Girl
Yayoi Kusama Museum
Until Mar 8Reservation Required
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Artists
Yayoi Kusama
From her earliest years, Yayoi Kusama found her greatest joy in drawing. Over the course of her long career, her artistic practice has evolved in a variety of ways. This exhibition identifies two distinct facets of Kusama’s identity as revealed through her work— “the fighting woman” and “the innocent girl”—and traces how these personas have emerged and transformed over time.
In 1957, Kusama moved to the United States, embarking upon an uncompromising practice within an art world then dominated by white male artists, where she positioned herself with fierce resolve as a minority—an Asian woman. During her New York years—a period in which she must have been acutely aware of her own identity—Kusama produced a substantial body of ambitious works that confronted both herself and the society around her as a woman. Following her return to Japan in 1973, she re-engaged with painting—a practice she had set aside in the late 1960s—with renewed intensity. In her recent works, a pronounced girl-like sense of innocence is evident, expressed through vivid colors, playful figural depictions, and other similar elements.
The exhibition brings together early drawings; Aggregation sculptures created as acts of overcoming a fear of sex rooted in past trauma; and archival records of her provocative nude performances and fashion projects, which openly challenged prevailing social norms and sexual mores. From her more recent works, it presents a series of paintings produced with notable intensity, as though rendering the depths of her inner world; three-dimensional works depicting girl and flower that appear to give tangible form to her imaginative realm; together with her world-premiere creation, a small-scale mirrored room. We invite visitors to experience Kusama’s multifaceted creative universe, where a spirit of defiance against the times coexists with the ingenuousness of a young girl.
In 1957, Kusama moved to the United States, embarking upon an uncompromising practice within an art world then dominated by white male artists, where she positioned herself with fierce resolve as a minority—an Asian woman. During her New York years—a period in which she must have been acutely aware of her own identity—Kusama produced a substantial body of ambitious works that confronted both herself and the society around her as a woman. Following her return to Japan in 1973, she re-engaged with painting—a practice she had set aside in the late 1960s—with renewed intensity. In her recent works, a pronounced girl-like sense of innocence is evident, expressed through vivid colors, playful figural depictions, and other similar elements.
The exhibition brings together early drawings; Aggregation sculptures created as acts of overcoming a fear of sex rooted in past trauma; and archival records of her provocative nude performances and fashion projects, which openly challenged prevailing social norms and sexual mores. From her more recent works, it presents a series of paintings produced with notable intensity, as though rendering the depths of her inner world; three-dimensional works depicting girl and flower that appear to give tangible form to her imaginative realm; together with her world-premiere creation, a small-scale mirrored room. We invite visitors to experience Kusama’s multifaceted creative universe, where a spirit of defiance against the times coexists with the ingenuousness of a young girl.
Schedule Now in session | Oct 16 (Thu) 2025-Mar 8 (Sun) 2026 84 days left Reservation RequiredOpening Hours Information
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| Fee | Adults ¥1100; High School, Junior High and Elementary School Students ¥600; Infants free. (Tickets available only on the museum website) | ||||
| Venue | Yayoi Kusama Museum http://yayoikusamamuseum.jp/  | ||||
| Location | 107 Benten-cho, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo 162-0851 | ||||
| Access | 6 minute walk from the East exit of Ushigome-yanagicho Station on the Toei Oedo line, 7 minute walk from exit 1 at Waseda Station on the Tozai line, 9 minute walk from exit 2 at Kagurazaka Station on the Tozai line. |
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