Yayoi Kusama never stopped creating until her death at 97. Here’s what she said about productivity and aging.

Japanese creator Yayoi Kusama, champion known for her colorful, polka-dot-covered artwork and sculptures, has died. She was 97.

Kusama's official website announced her decease connected Thursday, saying successful a connection that the creator had died successful a Tokyo infirmary connected August 14. It did not specify a origin of death.

"She continued to overgarment until her last days, ne'er mounting speech her brush, and continued exploration of everlastingly emotion and eternal soul," the connection read.

Born successful Matsumoto, Japan, successful 1929, Kusama knowledgeable visions and hallucinations from a young property that would later go central to her art.

Over the years, Kusama's assemblage of activity grew to see the Infinity Mirror Rooms and pumpkin sculptures that helped make her 1 of the world's astir recognizable modern artists.

Kusama began exhibiting her activity successful Japan successful the '50s, earlier moving to New York successful 1957, wherever she quickly became portion of the city's avant-garde scene. There, astatine her first solo exhibition, Kusama debuted a bid of paintings that would later beryllium known arsenic "Infinity Nets."

In a 1961 article, Kusama described moving "as overmuch arsenic 50 to sixty hours astatine a stretch," becoming "under the spell of the accumulation and repetition" successful the "nets" of her art, per M+ Magazine, the integer publication of Hong Kong's M+ contemporary-art museum.

Kusama's tireless attack to making creation continued passim her life.

She voluntarily checked into a psychiatric infirmary successful Tokyo astir 1977 and lived location until her death. Even successful her last decades, she kept creating caller work.

Kusama said successful a 2014 question and reply pinch Sleek Magazine that making creation had helped her done life's hardships and psychological struggles.

"Every time I americium creating a caller world by making artworks. I aftermath up early successful the greeting and enactment up precocious astatine night, sometimes until 3 a.m., conscionable to make art. I americium fighting for my life and don't return immoderate rest," she said.

Reflecting connected her difficult way arsenic an creator successful a 2020 interview pinch Phaidon, Kusama said she still felt she had to do her "very best" because the clip she has near "won't beryllium long."

"But I kept astatine it and I americium now astatine an property that I ne'er imagined I would reach," Kusama said.

In 2023, Kusama told The Art Newspaper that she was still coating each day, and wanted to "continue creating a world successful awe of life."

That aforesaid year, Kusama said that property had not changed her imaginative drive, arsenic she saw nary quality betwixt her earlier activity and the creation she was making later successful life.

"I ne'er tally retired of ideas truthful I shall proceed to show caller things," she told Wallpaper. "I return successful everything I'm willing in. I desire to create ever much original works."