Japanese polka-dot artist Yayoi Kusama died at the age of 97 in Tokyo on August 14. Born in Matsumoto, Nagano, in 1929, she was known for her colourful avant-garde sculptures and installations, captivating the world for decades. Kusama’s work was heavily influenced by her childhood hallucinations, transforming them into compelling contemporary visual narratives. 

As the world celebrates her legacy, we take a look back at her most brilliant collaborations and projects over the years. 

Kusama x Louis Vuitton

Kusama and Louis Vuitton have come together for two landmark collaborations, first in 2012 under the creative direction of Marc Jacobs and second in 2023. Both collaborations featured a capsule collection of garments and accessories adorned with Kusama’s distinct polka dots. In 2012, the duo set up a concept store at Louis Vuitton’s Selfridges department store, with polka-dotted display tables and walls, while the 2023 collaboration was marked by facades on Louis Vuitton’s flagship stores across the globe, where the store transformed into Kusama’s canvas. 

Kusama x Museum of Modern Arts

In 2018, Yayoi Kusama partnered with the Museum of Modern Art to bring together a limited-edited skateboards collection with four designs featuring her signature polka dots. The skateboards were sold exclusively through the MoMA Design Store in New York and came in two colour combinations of yellow and black, and white and red. Kusama hand-painted the polka dots onto the underside of the skateboards, part of her “dot” series. 

Kusama x New York Botanical Garden

In 2021, Kusama collaborated with the New York Botanical Garden, creating Kusama: Cosmic Nature, a park-wide exhibition covering trees in polka dots and pouring over 1000 mirror balls into the pond. Other key installations and artworks from the exhibition include the Dancing Pumpkin, a star-shaped aluminium structure titled I want to fly to the universe, and Life on the Display.

Kusama x Philip Johnson’s Glass House

A predecessor to her dot series collection with MoMa, Kusama’s Dot Obsession: Alive, Seeking for Eternal Hope took place in 2016. American architect Philip Johnson designed the Glass House as a modernist residency in the 1940s, which was later converted into a museum. Kusama covered the glass walls of the house with red polka dots to allow visitors to see the world through both their perspectives. 

Her novel artistic choices and striking visual patterns continue to influence and inspire creatives across the globe as she leaves her indelible mark in the contemporary art landscape.