Pumpkin

Yayoi Kusama - Pumpkin

The artwork Pumpkin by Yayoi Kusama features three depictions of pumpkins, arranged in sequence and framed by green, pink, and blue borders. The pumpkins, rendered with the artist’s signature polka dot pattern, stand out against a black background interwoven with a dense golden web, creating a visually dynamic and hypnotic effect.

The serial accumulation of dots and the repetitive rhythm of the composition reflect Kusama’s obsessive and meditative approach, where this motif serves as a means of exploring infinity and self-perception. The alternating colors of the three frames introduce variation within the structured symmetry of the piece, emphasizing Kusama’s interest in the interaction between color, form, and space.

The use of screen printing provides sharp detail, enhancing the precision of the composition. Pumpkin perfectly embodies Kusama’s artistic vision, encapsulating her exploration of repetition and sensory immersion.

Yayoi Kusama, Pumpkin: Prices and Value

If you are interested in the work by Yayoi Kusama, Pumpkin and you wish to know the price click on "SHOW PRICE" to shortly receive it by email.

Do not hesitate to contact us for more information about the artist and his works on sale.

Join the wonders of art thanks to the wide selection of works available on our website.

Yayoi Kusama - Pumpkin - 1991 - Signed and Dated in Original

Yayoi Kusama - Biography 

Born in 1929 in the Japanese city of Matsumoto, Yayoi Kusama is a contemporary artist famous and influential around the world.

Her passion for art began at age of 10 when she started drawing figures she saw from hallucinations, which are now internationally famous and celebrated. Yet her mother was not supportive of her art. Kusama began to draw her iconic dots faster and faster because she was in constant fear of her mother taking and ripping apart her work. The physical abuse Kusama endured during her childhood still influences the production of her art.

Although her mother did not approve of Kusuma’s dreams of becoming an artist, she still attended art school where she studied Nihonga painting. This style is when one uses techniques and materials that are of the Japanese tradition. Kusama felt trapped in the strictly Japanese style so she began to try other genres. She wanted to put her personal sensations and interpretations of the world around her on canvas. 

One day Yaoyoi came across a book with paintings by Georgia O’Keeffe, a famous American avant-garde painter. Kusama was captured by her art and decided to write to O’Keeffe to ask for advice on how to find her way as a painter. 

Only a few days later Georgia O’Keefe responded, pushing Yayoi to move to the United States as it would be the best place to free her art. In 1958 Yayoi followed O’Keefe’s advice and moved to New York. The city was in full swing and Pop Art was just making its way into art galleries. From this moment on, Kusama abandoned the formal rigour of Japanese art to make way for new expressiveness. Yayoi Kusama’s artwork transforms into an expression of her own state of mind to show her fears and anxieties.

In the 1960s Yayoi Kusama met Andy Warhol, who also became the Japanese artist’s first buyer. Her early works were mainly large-scale monochrome paintings, thanks to which she quickly gained attention.

In 1977 Kusama returned to Japan for good. She decided to move into a psychiatric hospital in Seiwa where she writes poetry, novels, and paints daily. 

Her work most recent work aims to tell the story of infinity through sculptures. For the 1993 Venice Biennale, Kusama created a hall of mirrors filled with small pumpkins, which have since come to represent her alter ego. 

Her work is exhibited in numerous museums around the world, from the Tate Modern in London to the Museum of Modern Art in New York to the National Museum of Modern Art in Tokyo. Her fame has also reached the general public thanks to her collaboration with British musician Peter Gabriel in 1994 for the video of the song Lovetown, in which Kusama’s world of polka dots meets and animates Gabriel’s music.

Today, at over 90 years old, Kusama is the richest artist in the world and is well known for her many collaborations with major brands. In 2012, she collaborated with Louis Vuitton, which was later renewed in 2022. They created numerous garments with the iconic polka dots in all sizes and colours. 

"I am determined to create a Kusama world that no one has ever seen before." - Yayoi Kusama

Yayoi Kusama - Artwork and Style

Yayoi Kusama’s work is primarily based on the conceptual art style as well as various influences from styles such as minimalism, surrealism, art brut, pop art and abstract expressionism. All of these are united by the use of her symbolic polka dots.

Polka dots are omnipresent in Kusama’s artistic production: from sculptures to the bodies of models transformed into living art. Polka dots were also the protagonists of her first performance in 1966, on 14th street in New York City. The same year, Kusama showed up uninvited to the Venice Biennale and began throwing over a thousand mirrored spheres into the city’s canals for her work entitled Narcissus Garden. 

One of the most popular works of Yayoi Kusama and described by many as a masterpiece is her Infinity Room. They are immersive installations of kaleidoscopic universes using light and colour, with the intention of transporting the viewed into another world. In these installations, the artist leaves the two-dimensional surface to bring her art into an environment of reflection through kaleidoscopic surfaces. In this room, the human body is fragmented and then reproduced an infinite number of times. 

Yayoi Kusama - Pumpkin Obsession

In Yayoi Kusama’s art, Pumpkins are one of the most recurring subjects. The artist’s passion for pumpkins was born during her childhood when she would walk through the fields of her grandfather’s farm and find herself admiring the pumpkins. The vegetable struck her for its structural simplicity and she composed her first watercolours with it. The artist captures not only the grace of the vegetable but also what she describes as their “generous unpretentiousness” and “solid spiritual balance”.

YAYOI KUSAMA: WORKS FOR SALE WITH PRICES AND VALUE AT DEODATO ARTE

For those interested in the artist, you can find Yayoi Kusama's works for sale on our website.

If interested in finding out about Yayoi Kusama's prices, value or which works will be on display at Deodato Arte Contemporary Art Gallery please do not hesitate to contact us by sending an e-mail to galleria@deodato.com.

The artwork is delicate and requires a custom-made wooden box to protect it during transportation. Delivery to EU countries takes 1 to 3 weeks from the time of order.

For deliveries outside the EU there may be a clearance delay at customs. Contact galleria@deodato.com to receive an estimate of possible customs delays.

The shipping cost is calculated before payment. The cost of the box and packaging is included in the shipping cost.

For more information, please visit our Shipping Methods, Returns and Refunds page.

We are happy that you decided to buy an artwork. We'll explain how to do it, but always remember that you can also buy via email (galleria@deodato.com), by phone (+39 02.80886294) or by physically coming to one of our galleries.

PRICE

If the price is visible in the product fiche you can click "ADD TO CART" and proceed autonomously choosing later how to pay and how you like shipping (or pick-up it in one of our store).

If the price is not visible, you must press the "SHOW PRICE" button, so you will receive an email with the price and a button, "DON'T LOOSE IT, BUY NOW": if the price is right for you click on this button and you will be sent back to the site to complete the purchase.

TAX

if you LIVE IN EU

If you live in Europe (CEE) the price we show you already includes taxes. The works are taxed either with VAT exposed (5%) or VAT with the margin, if you are a private person you do not change anything, if you are a company: in In the first case, you will recover the VAT, in the second, no. When you put the works in the cart you will be separated from the vat exposed.

If you DON'T LIVE IN EU and you want an EXTRA EU shipping

Many works (not all) have an exposed VAT of 5% included in the price, this vat will be spun off! Obviously you will pay the VAT to your destination country, if due. For example if you live in Switzerland you save 5% but you will have to pay 8.1% to your customs, if you live in Hong Kong you will save 5% and you will not have to pay anything to your customs (lucky you).

SHIPPING

Shipments are insured, check the product fiche for more information, or write to galleria@deodato.com. For works in stock the delivery time for Italy is three working days, before placing your order please contact us via email (galleria@deodato.com) or by phone (+39 02.80886294) to check availability. 

PAYMENT

If you complete the purchase on the site you can use a credit card, or you can make a bank transfer. Payment in cash is accepted up to 5,000 euros physically in one of our stores. Payments in BitCoin or cryptocurrencies are NOT accepted.