Yayoi Kusama Is the Most Popular Artist in The World

Yayoi Kusama. Photo via: Jamille Sodré

The Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama has been crowned as the most popular artist in the world according to a survey of museum attendance in 2014 conducted by the Art Newspaper.

Besides rejoicing in the marvelous fact that the biggest artist in the world is, in fact, a woman (see We Asked 20 Women “Is the Art World Biased?” Here’s What They Said), Kusama’s super powers do not come as a surprise, as the Japanese artist has been long known for drawing large masses to her brilliant exhibitions.

In fact, the recent South American leg of her traveling retrospective “Infinite Obsession,” which toured across Brazilian cities such Rio de Janeiro, Brasilia, and São Paulo, and then continued to Mexico, was attended by millions of visitors (see South America Goes Dotty for Kusama).

The demand for tickets to her show at the Museo Tamayo in Mexico City earlier this year was so great that the museum had to stay open for 36 hours straight during the last two days (see Kusama Fans Sleep Outside Museo Tamayo to See Show and Yayoi Kusama Retrospective Becomes Security Nightmare in Mexico).

(Kusama’s 36-hours feat, by the way, reminds us of the grand finale of Jeff Koons’s Whitney retrospective [see 36 Straight Hours of Koons Will Mark Whitney Closing].)

Kusama’s retrospective is currently on view at the Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts, in Taiwan (see Popular Yayoi Kusama Retrospective Headed to Taiwan’s Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts).

But the 86-year old artist is not only a success with the crowds; she also has a red-hot market, which has been boosted even further by her popular worldwide retrospectives (see Why Are Yayoi Kusama’s Works Selling Like Hotcakes?)


Follow Artnet News on Facebook:


Want to stay ahead of the art world? Subscribe to our newsletter to get the breaking news, eye-opening interviews, and incisive critical takes that drive the conversation forward.
Article topics