“Contemporary Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama (b. 1929) is one of the most popular artists in the world, inspiring millions to experience her immersive installations. KUSAMA: Cosmic Nature is our multisensory presentation of Yayoi Kusama’s profound connection with the natural world.

With NYBG as the exclusive exhibition venue, Kusama will reveal her lifelong fascination with the natural world, beginning with her childhood spent in the greenhouses and fields of her family’s seed nursery. Her artistic concepts of obliteration, infinity, and eternity are inspired by her intimate engagement with the colors and patterns of plants and flowers.

Explore Kusama’s eternal love for plants through multiple installations featuring her multifaceted art across NYBG’s 250-acre landmark landscape and buildings—including a seasonally changing flower show in the Enid A. Haupt Conservatory and her nature-based paintings and biomorphic collages in the LuEsther T. Mertz Library.” — New York Botanical Garden

A Special Message from Yayoi Kusama

The passion that I and those at The New York Botanical Garden have poured into this exhibition is still burning. Everyone, I hope you will wait. We aspire for endless love permeated with everyone’s hearts of human love, a wish for peace in the world, our dreams, and wonders of hope—it is our wish that this exhibition can offer these as its greatest gift. I hope you all can wait. With all my heart, Yayoi Kusama

I Want to Go to the Universe, 2013. Acrylic on canvas, 76-3/8 x 76-3/8 in. Collection of the artist. Courtesy of Ota Fine Arts, Victoria Miro, and David Zwirner.

Alone, Buried in A Flower Garden, 2014. Acrylic on canvas , 76-3/8 x 76-3/8 in. Collection of the artist. Courtesy of Ota Fine Arts, Victoria Miro, and David Zwirner.

Life, 2015. Fiber-reinforced plastic, glass tile. Dimensions variable. Collection of the artist. Courtesy of Ota Fine Arts.

Pumpkins Screaming About Love Beyond Infinity, 2017. Mirrors, acrylic, glass, LEDs, wood panels. Dimensions variable. Collection of the artist.

Summer Flower, 1988. Acrylic on canvas, 45.5 x 53 cm. Collection of the artist.

Flower Obsession (Sunflower), 2000. Video still. Collection of the artist.

Infinity Mirrored Room—Illusion Inside the Heart, 2020 Steel, glass 300 x 300 x 300 cm. Collection of the artist Courtesy of Ota Fine Arts, Victoria Miro, and David Zwirner

Yayoi Kusama, 2020

The Kusama Family, c. 1929

Portrait of Kusama around the age of ten, ca. 1939. Courtesy of the artist.

Images courtesy New York Botanical Garden.

*PLEASE NOTE: New York Botanical Garden is temporarily closed to the public.