Yayoi Kusama, a Japanese avant‑garde artist known for her polka‑dot motifs, died on August 14 at age 97 in Tokyo. Her death marks the end of a career that made her one of the most recognized contemporary artists worldwide.

Born in 1929 as the youngest daughter of a wealthy family, Kusama began creating art at age 10. After studying in Japan, she moved to the United States in the late 1950s and became active in New York’s avant‑garde community, where she gained attention for large paintings and performance pieces that incorporated body painting and polka dots.

She produced a prolific body of work that included paintings, sculptures, installations and performance art, often using repetitive patterns and immersive environments such as infinity rooms. Her pumpkin sculptures, including a prominent piece on the art island Naoshima, and large‑scale exhibitions attracted substantial public interest and generated high auction prices. In the 1960s she organized happenings that featured polka‑dot motifs and participatory elements, and she later established a fashion line and described herself as the 'High Priestess of Polka Dots' in promotional materials. After returning to Japan in the 1970s, she voluntarily admitted herself to a Tokyo psychiatric hospital, where she lived and worked for the remainder of her life. Her website notes that lifelong visions and hallucinations beginning in childhood inspired her early polka‑dot and net drawings.

Fans and peers posted messages of appreciation on social media, describing her work as enduring and influential.

Kusama’s legacy will continue to be examined in museums and academic studies, though questions about the lasting impact of her self‑obliteration philosophy remain open.