London, the tallest bronze pumpkin to date by Yayoi Kusama will be placed in Kensington Gardens

From July 9 to Nov. 3, 2024, near Round P ond, the lake in Kensington Gardens, the tallest bronze pumpkin to date by Yayoi Kusama (Matsumoto, Japan, 1929) will be placed and visible to all. Pumpkin (2024) is in fact 6 meters high and 5.5 meters in diameter and is all covered in the Japanese artist’s characteristic polka dot pattern. It is London’s Serpentine Galleries that is bringing Yayoi Kusama’s large polka-dotted pumpkin to this venue, with the project curated by Lizzie Carey-Thomas and Natalia Grabowska, after having held the first major exhibition in Britain on the artist in 2000.

Kusama often features the kabocha (gourd) in her artistic output: since 1946 her gourds have taken on many shapes and colors, but the polka dot motif never fails. “Gourds have been a great comfort to me since my childhood. They speak to me of the joy of life. They are humble and fun at the same time, and I have and always will celebrate them in my art,” she said. Her connection to this subject harkens back to her childhood, when her family’s home was surrounded by the very pumpkins they grew themselves.

Today, Yayoi Kusama’s pumpkins are exhibited in museums and galleries around the world, including parks and gardens, thus becoming hallmarks of her art.

Image: Yayoi Kusama Digital rendering of Pumpkin, 2024 © Yayoi Kusama. Courtesy of Ota Fine Arts, Victoria Miro and David Zwirner.

London, the tallest bronze pumpkin to date by Yayoi Kusama will be placed in Kensington Gardens

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