The final major exhibition that Yayoi Kusama worked on during her lifetime has opened in Amsterdam, bringing more than 300 of the Japanese artist’s works—including two of her famous Infinity Mirror Rooms—to the Stedelijk Museum.
The self-titled retrospective opened September 11 and runs through January 17, 2027. The Amsterdam presentation is the third and final stop of a traveling exhibition that Kusama developed in close collaboration with curators and her studio. Spotlighting some of the last pieces she created, it’s also the last exhibition she worked on during her lifetime and the final show she helped plan. Kusama, who died August 14, 2026, at age 97, contributed to shaping a career-spanning show that the Stedelijk has since recast as a posthumous tribute to the artist whose polka-dotted pumpkins, mirrored rooms, and immersive installations became some of the most recognizable works in contemporary art.
I visited during the exhibition’s first week. As I approached the museum, I could see Kusama’s trademark red-and white dots covering portions of the Stedelijk’s facade and tree trunks on Museumplein, the broad public square at the heart of Amsterdam’s Museum Quarter. Inside, the show offered a much broader look at the artist’s career.
For travelers headed to Amsterdam this fall or winter, it’s an art experience worth planning a trip around. Here’s what you’ll see inside, plus what to know about tickets, the Infinity Mirror Rooms, and the neighboring museums on Museumplein.
A look inside Yayoi Kusama’s Amsterdam exhibit
People inside Kusama’s Infinity Mirrored Room titled The Hope of the Polka Dots Buried in Infinity Will Eternally Cover the Universe.
Photo by Peter Tijhuis/Courtesy of the Stedelijk Museum/©Yayoi Kusama
The Yayoi Kusama exhibit at Stedelijk Museum is arranged roughly chronologically to demonstrate how Kusama became famous for the immersive, polka-dotted worlds that now draw huge museum crowds.
The first galleries include drawings she made as a child and her early Infinity Net paintings, huge canvases covered in thousands of tiny looping painted marks. Even if you don’t know the series by name, the paintings are worth lingering over: You can already see Kusama experimenting with the repetition and seemingly endless patterns that show up again and again later in the exhibition.
From there, the show becomes more playful and three-dimensional. A standout work is Aggregation: One Thousand Boats Show, a 1963 installation of a rowboat covered in soft white phallic forms and surrounded by a repeating pattern of images of itself. It also has a nice Amsterdam connection: Kusama gave the piece to the Stedelijk in the 1960s, and it remains part of the museum’s permanent collection.
Another work to look for is Narcissus Garden, a roomful of mirror silver spheres that reflect the gallery—and everyone walking through it. Kusama first presented a version of the work at the 1966 Venice Biennale, decades before mirrored installations became one of her calling cards.
By the later galleries, you’re firmly in the Kusama universe most people recognize: bright-yellow pumpkins covered in black dots, enormous flowers, mirrored surfaces, and colorful paintings crammed with eyes, faces, and fantastical shapes.
Then come the works that helped turn Kusama exhibitions into major art-world events in their own right: the Infinity Mirror Rooms, spaces she began creating in 1965, within which reflections, lights, and repeating patterns make the area seemingly stretch far beyond the walls. The Amsterdam retrospective has two of them, including one in the final large-scale installations Kusama created, called Infinity Mirrored Room – The Hope of the Polka Dots Buried in Infinity Will Eternally Cover the Universe.
How to get tickets to Yayoi Kusama’s exhibition in Amsterdam
The Stedelijk Museum is covered in colorful polka dots in celebration of the Yayoi Kusama exhibition.
Lena Chert/Shutterstock
The Kusama exhibition requires a timed-entry reservation and an additional charge beyond the regular Stedelijk admission.
Regular adult admission to the museum is currently €22.50 (about US$25.50 based on current conversion rates), and the Kusama exhibition carries a €10 (US$11.30) supplement, bringing a full-price adult ticket to €32.50. Museumkaart and I Amsterdam City Card holders also need to reserve a time slot and pay the €10 exhibition surcharge. Visitors aged 18 and younger receive free admission.
The Stedelijk is generally open daily from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., though travelers should check the museum calendar when booking because hours and special programs can vary. It’s worth noting that this is not a show to wedge into a spare hour. Between the more than 300 works and the possibility of waiting in line to enter the mirrored rooms, travelers should allow at least two hours for the experience, if not longer.
During weekends, school holidays, and the final weeks before the January 17 closing date, booking ahead is a good idea.
How to make it part of a Museumplein day
The Stedelijk sits on Museumplein. Next door is the Van Gogh Museum, home to the world’s largest collection of works by Vincent van Gogh, while the Rijksmuseum, across the square, is best known for Dutch masterpieces by Rembrandt, Vermeer, and Frans Hals.
Both require timed-entry tickets, so book in advance if you want to visit multiple art institutions in one day. Van Gogh Museum tickets are sold online only and currently cost €25 (US$28.30) for adults; even Museumkaart holders need to reserve a start time. The Rijksmuseum also requires a start time for nearly all visitors, including Museumkaart holders, and adult admission is €25.
