Yayoi Kusama, Japanese artist who turned hallucinations into art, dies at 97

​Japanese avant-garde artist Yayoi Kusama, ​who transformed hallucinations into ‌art ​and was known for her obsessive dot-covered paintings and pumpkin motifs, has died at the ‌age of 97.

The announcement made on her official website said she died on August 14 but did not give a cause ‌of death. Frustrated with the confining nature of Japanese society, Kusama ‌left for New York at 27, where she quickly made a name for herself with her paintings, inspired by hallucinations of flashing lights, dots ⁠and ​flowers she had ⁠seen since childhood.

She also wrote, took part in anti-war activities during ⁠the 1960s, and reportedly influenced artists such as Andy Warhol. Kusama, who was ​candid about her mental health struggles, said New York gave ⁠her neuroses. Around 1977, a few years after returning to Japan, she ⁠voluntarily ​entered a mental hospital and lived there for decades, being driven to her nearby studio each morning.

"I still see hallucinations ⁠even now," Kusama said in 2017. "Dots come flying everywhere — on ⁠my dress, ⁠the floor, things I'm carrying, throughout the house, the ceiling. And I paint them."