| 1929 |
Born in Matsumoto City, Nagano Prefecture. From around age ten, she began painting net and polka dot motifs in watercolor, pastel, and oil paint. |
| 1957 |
Went to the U.S. where she showed huge paintings, soft sculptures, and environmental sculptures made from mirrors and illuminations. |
| 1960 |
In the later half of the sixties, she held many happenings including body painting, fashion shows, and anti-war demonstrations. |
| 1968 |
Her film "Kusama's Self Obliteration" won a prize at the 4th International Experimental Film Competition in Belgium and a silver medal at the 2nd Ann Arbor Film Festival. |
| 1973 |
Returned to Japan and published many books and poems while continuing to make and show fine art. |
| 1983 |
Won 10th Yasei Jidai New Writers Award for the novel "The Hustlers Grotto of Christopher Street." |
| 1986 |
Held solo exhibitions at Musee des Beaux-Arts de Calais and Musee Municipal de Dole in France. |
| 1989 |
Held solo exhibitions at the Center for International Contemporary Arts, New York and Modern Art Oxford. |
| 1993 |
Participated in the 45th Venice Biennale. |
| 1994 |
Made outdoor sculptures for the Fukuoka Art Museum, Benesse Art Site Naoshima, Kirishima Open-air Museum, and the Matsumoto City Museum of Art, and produced murals at the subway passages in Lisbon, Portugal. |
| 1996 |
Began to show mainly around New York art galleries. Two exhibitions that opened the same year were given international art reviews. |
| 1998-1999 |
A great retrospective of her works began at the Los Angeles County Museum and continued to the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Walker Art Center, and the Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo. |
| 2000 |
Received the Japanese Education Minister's Art Encouragement Prize and the Japanese Foreign Minister's Commendations. |
| 2001 |
Won the Asahi Award. |
| 2003 |
Received the Officier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres. |
| 2004-2005 |
Opened the show "Yayoi Kusama -- Eternity-Modernity" at the National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo. The show continued on to Kyoto, Hiroshima, Kumamoto, and Nagano. |
| 2006 |
Won the Praemium Imperiale in painting. |
