World-famous Art World [Yayoi Kusama Museum of Art, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo

  • Tokyo
  • Sightseeing
Exterior view of Yayoi Kusama Museum ©YAYOI KUSAMA

Yayoi Kusama Museum by appointment only

The polka-dot building you see when you walk down Gaien-Higashi Dori Avenue is the world-famous Yayoi Kusama Museum of Art, which opened in October 2017. The museum aims to promote the activities and understanding of Yayoi Kusama and contemporary art, and also holds lectures and gallery talks by its staff. Admission is by appointment only, with a 90-minute reservation system, allowing visitors to view the works at their leisure. Tickets are available only on the Yayoi Kusama Museum of Art website and not at the museum counter.

About Yayoi Kusama...

Yayoi Kusama PortraitPhoto by Yusuke Miyazaki ©YAYOI KUSAMA
Yayoi Kusama Museum of Art Installation view ©YAYOI KUSAMA
Born in Matsumoto City, Nagano Prefecture in 1929, Kusama is an avant-garde artist and novelist. She had spectacular experiences of visions and auditory hallucinations from her childhood, and began creating paintings with motifs of net patterns and polka dots. 1957, she moved to the U.S. alone, and established herself as an avant-garde artist with diverse developments, including net painting, soft sculpture, installations and happenings using mirrors and electric decorations. Overcoming various obsessions, he discovered an artistic philosophy of self-annihilation through obsessive repetition and proliferation of a single motif. Since then, he has exhibited in museums around the world, was named one of the world's most popular artists in 2014, one of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2016, and was awarded the Order of Culture.

Spectacular Works of Art

A participatory work!

Yayoi Kusama Flower Obsession (part) 2017/2020 Installation view at Yayoi Kusama Museum of Art, 2021 ©YAYOI KUSAMA
Some areas of the museum are open for photography, allowing visitors to take photogenic photos. Yayoi Kusama's Flower Obsession is a participatory project in which visitors choose a flower sticker at the entrance and place it on their favorite spot in the room, creating a space for visitors of all ages to enjoy! Visitors can relive the hallucination that Yayoi Kusama herself once had when the room was filled with flowers. The room is now replaced by an installation called "I'm Here, but Nothing.

A powerful work!

Yayoi Kusama Starry Pumpkin 2015 ©YAYOI KUSAMA
Yayoi Kusama: Garden of Narcissus, 1966/2020 Installation view at Yayoi Kusama Museum of Art, 2020 ©YAYOI KUSAMA
When you go to the rooftop, you will be greeted by a powerful work of art. Visitors can see a variety of works depending on the period of the year, and can enjoy different looks depending on the time of day and weather. In addition to the artworks, there are benches on the rooftop where you can take a break while enjoying the view of Shinjuku City. The elevator and restrooms are also fully open to the world of Yayoi Kusama. For 90 minutes, you will be absorbed into the world of Yayoi Kusama, who has overcome unimaginable hardships.

If you are ever in Shinjuku, please visit the Yayoi Kusama Museum of Art!
~Yayoi Kusama Museum of Art Website:
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