Image: Still from YAYOI KUSAMA Obsesión Infinita, a film by Martín Rietti, 2013. Museum of Latin American Art of Buenos Aires
The Museum of Latin American Art of Buenos Aires (Malba) has published a tribute to Yayoi Kusama, mourning the Japanese artist and describing her legacy as one of the most singular contributions to the history of contemporary art.
In a thread of six Spanish-language posts, Malba opened with a line attributed to the artist about continuing to make art until the day she died, and beyond it through her spirit. It said the great Japanese artist had died at 97, gave her dates as 1929–2026 and called her a fundamental figure of international contemporary art. Malba said Kusama went on creating until her final days, that her legacy had expanded through generations of artists and millions of viewers around the world, and closed with an affectionate farewell accompanied by multicoloured heart emojis.
The thread describes her as a pioneer of the avant-garde whose work moved across painting, sculpture, performance, literature and installation to build an unmistakable universe of dots, nets, repetitions, mirrors and infinite obsessions. It also sets out the museum’s own history with the artist: in 2013 Malba presented Obsesión infinita, the first retrospective of Kusama in Latin America, bringing together more than 100 works — paintings, works on paper, sculptures, videos, slideshows and installations — including her Infinity Mirror Rooms. Malba’s exhibition page dates those works to between 1950 and 2013 and credits Philip Larratt-Smith and Frances Morris as curators. A closing post shares an extract from a film shot in Tokyo in 2013 by Martín Rietti to promote the Malba show, which the museum says can be seen in full on its YouTube channel. No memorial plans or new programming were announced, and the thread says nothing about the circumstances of her death.
Based in Buenos Aires, Malba is an institution dedicated to Latin American art and culture. Its tribute places Kusama within the broader international context of contemporary art, acknowledging an artist whose influence, according to the museum, has extended across generations and reached audiences worldwide.
Malba’s thread was published on August 27, 2026.
