KUSAMA: Cosmic Nature

Name: Yayoi Kusama Cosmic Nature
Start: 2020-05-09T09:00
End: 2020-11-01T09:00
Location: New York Botanical Garden

Saturday, May 9 – Sunday, November 1, 2020
#KusamaNYBG

A multisensory presentation of Yayoi Kusama’s profound connection with nature

Contemporary Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama (b. 1929) is one of the most popular artists in the world, drawing millions to experience her immersive installations that explore the interconnectedness of all living things.

With NYBG as the exclusive exhibition venue, Kusama reveals 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

Multiple installations feature Kusama’s multifaceted art, including vibrant paintings of plants and flowers and monumental floral and vegetal sculptures, across NYBG’s 250-acre landmark landscape and buildings.

In and around the Enid A. Haupt Conservatory, the artist’s two-dimensional work comes to life through a seasonal progression of violas, salvias, zinnias, chrysanthemums, and other colorful annuals, while her plant-inspired, polka-dotted sculptures are nestled among meadow grasses, bellflowers, water lilies, and more. This mesmerizing indoor-outdoor spectacle is designed to change with the seasons, transforming among tulips and irises in the spring and pumpkins and chrysanthemums in the fall.

Enjoy Kusama’s iconic sculptures, including Hymn of Life: Tulips (2007) in the Conservatory Courtyard Hardy Pool; in the LuEsther T. Mertz Library Building, explore nature-based paintings, biomorphic collages, works on paper, and botanical sketches; her signature Pumpkins Screaming About Love Beyond Infinity (2017); and more.

See new monumental and immersive works

New monumental sculptures Dancing Pumpkin (2020) and I Want to Fly to the Universe (2020) make their debut in the NYBG landscape, joining a unique immersive installation—the artist’s first-ever obliteration greenhouse, Flower Obsession (2020).

Experience a brand-new Infinity Mirrored Room

Kusama will unveil Infinity Mirrored Room—Illusion Inside the Heart (2020), an immersive outdoor installation responding to changing light throughout the day and seasons.

A timed-entry Infinity Mirrored Room ticket is required to access this immersive installation.

Detail of Kusama's painting Summer Flower

Join Now for Patron & Member Pre-Sale

Begins Feb. 19, 10 a.m. EST
Public & Corporate Partner Tickets: Feb. 26, 10 a.m. EST

Member benefits include free KUSAMA All-Garden Pass tickets and exclusive pre-sale access. Join Now.

At the Patron Level, also enjoy the best of the exhibition with special viewing opportunities and complimentary Infinity Mirrored Room tickets.

Plan Your Visit

In the News

See what media have to say about KUSAMA: Cosmic Nature.

“Take a Peak at Yayoi Kusama’s Highly Anticipated New York Botanical Garden Exhibition”
-artnet News

“A Yayoi Kusama Extravaganza Will Be Taking Over The New York Botanical Garden This Spring”
-Time Out New York

“Yayoi Kusama Is Bringing Her Massive Pumpkins…to the Bronx for an Expansive Show Next Spring”
-artnet News

“A ‘Landmark’ Yayoi Kusama Exhibition Will Spread Across New York Botanical Garden in 2020”
-am New York

“The Japanese Artist You’re About to See All Over Instagram”
-Elle

“The Eight Must-See Exhibitions of 2020”
-BBC

“Why Is Yayoi Kusama the World’s Most Popular Artist?”
-Daily Beast

The sponsor credits for KUSAMA: Cosmic Nature

Header image: Kusama with Pumpkin, 2010 © YAYOI KUSAMA. Courtesy of Ota Fine Arts, Tokyo / Singapore / Shanghai; Victoria Miro, London; David Zwirner, New York