A Universe of Her Own: Yayoi Kusama at Amsterdams’ Stedelijk Museum

The Dutch city hosts the final European stop of the artist’s landmark retrospective, on view through January 17, 2027.

Amsterdam has never been short of reasons to visit, but this season belongs to a single artist. From September 11, 2026 until January 17, 2027, the Stedelijk Museum presents a sweeping retrospective of Yayoi Kusama, the Japanese artist whose polka dots, mirrored rooms, and hypnotic fields of sculpture changed the course of contemporary art. Mounted across the museum’s galleries on Museumplein, the exhibition gathers more than seven decades of work in a show that has become, with the artist’s passing, a posthumous tribute to a singular creative life.

The Stedelijk’s retrospective traces the full arc of that evolution, from early paintings made in Japan to the radical happenings, fashion experiments, and performances of her New York years, and on to the ambitious installations produced from her Tokyo studio in recent decades. Painting, sculpture, drawing, collage, film, and design all have a place in the show, alongside historic works that have never before been exhibited in Europe and new pieces created especially for the occasion. Among the highlights is a specially created new version of one of her iconic installations, a room that distills the themes of infinity and self-obliteration into a single, unforgettable environment.

The exhibition was organized in collaboration with Fondation Beyeler in Basel and Museum Ludwig in Cologne, which staged earlier chapters of the retrospective in 2025 and the first half of 2026. Amsterdam is the final European venue, and the only one where the show can be paired with a city that itself feels like a gallery of light and water. That makes this winter the last chance to see the retrospective in Europe, and a compelling excuse for a long weekend built around art, canals, and some very good dinners.

Practical planning matters here. Timed tickets for the Kusama retrospective are moving quickly and advance booking through the museum’s website is strongly recommended, particularly for weekends and the holiday weeks around Christmas and New Year. The Stedelijk sits on Museumplein beside the Van Gogh Museum and a short stroll from the Rijksmuseum, so a single well-timed visit can anchor a day that takes in three world-class collections. Arrive for a morning slot, linger over the infinity rooms when the crowds are thinnest, and reward yourself afterward with a walk through the neighboring Vondelpark or a slow loop of the canal ring, which glitters in the late afternoon light of a Dutch winter.