Stories of Yayoi Kusama’s life often begin after she moved to New York City from Japan in 1958 and found near-overnight success with her abstract infinity net paintings. These evolved into the infinity rooms and polka-dotted pumpkins that became social media phenomena decades later and the focus of her legacy after her death on Aug. 14, 2026.

Yet, this timeline misses a crucial first step in how she became one of the art world’s most famous international superstars: A year earlier in 1957, before her move, she journeyed over the Pacific Ocean to show her work in the United States for the first time in a hopeful first step toward her dreams.

As an art historian who specializes in the exchanges between Asian and American modern art, I believe it is important to consider not only her life after she hit it big in the New York art scene, but also how she got there from Japan.

Viewers familiar with Kusama’s flashy polka dots may be surprised to see her bright color schemes in a........

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