Culture

Pop art icon Yayoi Kusama is opening her own museum in Tokyo

The five-storey museum will host an inaugural exhibition dedicated to Kusama, displaying an array of the avant-garde artist’s latest work for the first time.

Sep 01, 2017 | By Pameyla Cambe

Her massive retrospective at the National Gallery in Singapore may be coming to a close this Sunday, but fret not: the revered Japanese artist, Yayoi Kusama, is opening her very own museum in Tokyo on October 1.

Housed in a five-storey building in Shinjuku, the Yayoi Kusama Museum will be a space for “presenting, promoting and preserving Kusama’s art through the exhibition of her work and related material.”

From her mesmerizing “infinity rooms” to her signature polka-dotted paintings and sculptures, visitors will have a chance to fully immerse themselves in the world of the avant-garde artist and “feel the sincerity of her ideas, namely of saving the world through love”.

The new museum’s five floors will feature shops, exhibition rooms, an “installation experience” room, as well as a reading room with archival materials solely dedicated to the pop art pioneer.

Exterior view of the Yayoi Kusama Museum.

As revealed on its website, the museum will also host an inaugural exhibition titled “Creation is a Solitary Pursuit, Love is What Brings You Closer to Art”, which will run through February 25, 2018. Some of its highlights include previously unseen works from Kusama’s latest painting series, “My Eternal Soul”, as well as creations from her “Love Forever” series. On top of that, an original art installation has been specially put up just for the exhibition.

It goes without saying that the Yayoi Kusama Museum will draw huge crowds when it finally opens its doors to the public later this year. After all, Kusama was named the world’s most popular artist back in 2014, and the overwhelming success of her recent exhibitions in Asia is a testament to the fact.

For those eager to be among the first to step into the shrine of the priestess of polka dots, ticket reservations and sales are now available on the museum’s website.


 
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