Yayoi Kusama is anti-war and communicated her political conscience through her artwork. Some of her earliest surviving paintings relate to the horrors of war: Accumulation of the Corpses (Prisoner Surrounded by the Curtain of Depersonalization) and Earth of Accumulation (1950) both illustrate dark war landscapes. In the 1960s during the Vietnam War, Kusama came into the public eye after organising a series of naked happenings in New York. These took place opposite the New York Stock Exchange and participants were painted with brightly coloured polka dots. Many argued this was Yayoi’s way of counteracting violence with art and activism.

Thanks to the selfie culture of social media, Yayoi Kusama is known as one of Instagram’s favourite artists. Although each visitor is given only a small amount of time in each room, a quick search on Instagram reveals that hundreds of thousands of people post their Infinity Mirror experience worldwide (see #YayoiKusama or #InfiniteKusama).

When Kusama was young she was greatly inspired by Georgia O’Keefe’s paintings. She dreamed of moving to America and wrote to O’keefe seeking advice, who responded with a kind letter. Kusama often says this was what gave her the courage to escape to New York and begin her career as an artist. Later, O’Keeffe invited Kusama to stay at her New Mexico ranch – she was concerned that New York was a city was too tough to live in for Kusama.