This retrospective of Yayoi Kusama can be seen at Fondation Beyeler until 25 January 2026, before it moves on to Cologne and Amsterdam
You think you have seen all of Yayoi Kusama, but wait till you’re at the Fondation Beyeler in Basel, where there are unseen showstoppers to discover. It is the first museum in Switzerland to devote a retrospective to the renowned Japanese artist, offering a complete overview of Kusama’s over 75-year-long career.
It’s a huge milestone that ought to be celebrated. The contemporary art superstar, having achieved cult status with her exploration of repetitive patterns and structures, has the ability to carry viewers away not worlds that seem to expand without limits. As Sam Keller, the director of the museum, said to Wallpaper*, it is a very rare thing that a nearly 100-year-old woman, who lives in near isolation, manages to communicate through art across all boundaries to people of all ages, all backgrounds and those who aren’t normally interested in art.
At the exhibition, marvel at the sheer range of her work, from Infinity Mirrored Room – Illusion Inside the Heart (2025), an immersive mirrored cube installation within the museum’s garden, to videos of her performance pieces in New York, featuring nude friends of hers painting each other with dots. There will be approximately 300 works, including 130 previously unseen works, including intimate etchings and collages created during her early years in Japan.
Editor’s note: The exhibition will travel to the Museum Ludwig in Cologne (14 March to 2 August 2026) next and following that, the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam (11 September 2026 to 17 January 2027)
Featured photo by Mark Niedermann; © Yayoi Kusama
