Yayoi Kusama

Known for: polka dot and net paintings; the Infinity Mirror Rooms

Yayoi Kusama began obsessively covering surfaces — canvas, walls, furniture, her own body — with dots and nets as a young woman in Japan, describing the practice as a defense against visual hallucinations. She moved to New York in 1958 and was a central figure in the happenings and body art scenes of the 1960s before returning to Japan, where she voluntarily entered a psychiatric institution in 1977 and has lived there since, leaving each day to work in her nearby studio. Her Infinity Mirror Rooms have drawn millions of visitors worldwide.