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In Japan, Yayoi Kusama Is Remembered as a Visionary and a Rebel

Artists, scholars and fans celebrated Ms. Kusama as a cultural giant who helped bring Japanese art to the masses.

© Noriko Hayashi for The New York Times

A pumpkin covered in dots by Yayoi Kusama at the Matsumoto City Museum of Art in Nagano, Japan.
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Yayoi Kusama Was the Avant-Garde Radical Who Became a Pop Icon

In her mass-produced ubiquity, Kusama became one of her own dots, spreading her image into every corner of our culture.

© Philip Fong/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

A video projection of “Song of a Manhattan Suicide Addict,” by Yayoi Kusama, in 2024. In her later years, Kusama was one of the most popular living artists in the world.
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