Pumpkin
Medium: Collage on lithograph laid on BFK Rives paper
[2 plates, 2 colors, 2 runs]
Year: 1982
Image: 57.7 x 47.7 cm (22.7 x 18.8 inches)
Sheet: 65.5 x 51 cm (25.8 x 20.1 inches)
Edition: 75
Artist’s Proofs: 1 AP
Printer’s Proof: 1 PP
Publisher: BOX Gallery, Nagoya
Printer: Shimo-oka Yoshiaki
Literature: ABE 4
Yayoi Kusama Prints 1979-2007, ABE PUBLISHING LTD, Number 4, Illustrated page 14
Signed, titled, numbered, and dated in pencil
Pumpkin from 1982 is a landmark early print from the artist’s return to Japan. It belongs to a decisive moment in Yayoi Kusama’s graphic practice, when the pumpkin had barely emerged as a fully formed personal emblem, no longer anecdotal, not yet decorative, but conceptually charged. Here, the pumpkin occupies the composition with monumental calm. Its form is constructed through dense fields of black polka dots on a saturated yellow ground, the dots tightening and loosening to suggest volume, curvature, and internal rhythm. Rather than modeling through light and shadow, Kusama relies on repetition and optical vibration: the pumpkin is not illuminated, it pulses. The stem, rendered in stark black, anchors the form like a punctuation mark, quietly assertive, almost architectural. What makes this work particularly compelling is the collaged framing. The central image is surrounded by jagged black shapes veined with yellow lines, creating a restless, organic border that contrasts sharply with the pumpkin’s internal order. Beyond this, a red band punctuated by white polka dots acts as a second frame: graphic, playful, but deliberate. Kusama sets up a tension between containment and expansion, control and proliferation. The pumpkin appears protected and exposed at once.
Technically, the work combines lithography with collage, a choice that reinforces Kusama’s long-standing interest in layering perception rather than flattening it. The surface is not purely printed; it is constructed. This aligns with her broader practice, where repetition is never mechanical but obsessive: an accumulation driven by psychological necessity rather than formal exercise. Color plays a crucial role. Kusama most often presents pumpkins in uniform tones: yellow, red, or monochrome variations. Here, the yellow-on-black palette asserts both warmth and severity. Yellow, for Kusama, is not decorative optimism; it is grounding, familiar, almost protective. Set against black, it becomes resilient rather than cheerful: a visual metaphor for endurance.
For Kusama, the pumpkin is more than a botanical object, it is a self-portrait of sorts, a symbol of comfort, resilience, and whimsical eccentricity. Kusama views her pumpkins as a form of spiritual self-portrait, mirroring her own balance of vulnerability and resilience. Unlike the hallucinations that often terrified her (such as dots and nets), she found pumpkins to be a source of stability, modesty, and peace. The repetition of dots across the organic form represents her desire to dissolve her identity into the universe, a concept she calls “self-obliteration”.
By the early 1980s, Kusama’s pumpkins had become stand-ins for stability, humility, and self-recognition. Unlike the infinite nets or mirrored spaces that dissolve the self, the pumpkin is weighty, contained, and quietly stubborn. In this print, it stands firm amid visual agitation, a composed presence surrounded by controlled chaos. This work encapsulates Kusama’s rare ability to merge personal symbolism, psychological intensity, and graphic clarity, producing an image that is immediately recognizable, yet far from simplistic. It does not demand attention; it holds it.
Pumpkin was sold for its highest price at Seoul Auction on 28 September 2021.
Seoul Auction: 28 September 2021
Estimated: KRW 80,000,000 – 150,000,000
KRW 110,000,000 (Hammer)
KRW 126,500,000 / USD 106,630
AUCTION RECORD FOR PUMPKIN (ABE 4)
YAYOI KUSAMA
Pumpkin, 1982
Lithograph, collage
Edition: 29/75 plus 1 artist’s proof
Signed, dated, titled and numbered on the front
Auction Results
Alex Cooper Auctioneers: 31 October 2025
Estimated: USD 20,000 – 40,000
USD 14,000 (Hammer)
USD 17,920
YAYOI KUSAMA (Japanese, b. 1929)
PUMPKIN (Kusama 4), 1982
Screenprint in colors, ed. 39/75, on BFK Rives paper
Pencil signed and dated lower right
Titled in Japanese lower center
Editioned 39/75
Published by BOX Gallery, Nagoya, Japan
Heritage Auctions: 16 October 2025
Estimated: USD 20,000 – 30,000
USD 32,500
YAYOI KUSAMA (b. 1929)
Pumpkin (Kusama 4), 1982
Lithograph in colors with collage on B.F.K. Rives paper
Ed. 53/75 (aside from one artist’s proof and one printer’s proof)
Signed, editioned, titled, and dated in pencil along lower edge
Published by Box Gallery, Nagoya, Japan
Printed by Shimo-oka Yoshiaki
Clars Auction: 9 February 2023
Estimated: USD 30,000 – 50,000
USD 17,000 (HAMMER)
YAYOI KUSAMA
Pumpkin, 1982
Lithograph in colors with collage
Pencil signed and dated lower right
Titled lower center and numbered 18/75
Mainichi Auction Tokyo: 19 October 2024
Estimated: JPY 7,000,000 – 10,000,000
JPY 8,970,000 / USD 59,990
YAYOI KUSAMA
Pumpkin , 1982
Lithograph and collage
Signed
From the edition of 75
Seoul Auction: 28 September 2021
Estimated: KRW 80,000,000 – 150,000,000
KRW 110,000,000 (Hammer)
KRW 126,500,000 / USD 106,630
AUCTION RECORD FOR PUMPKIN (ABE 4)
YAYOI KUSAMA
Pumpkin, 1982
Lithograph, collage
Edition: 29/75 plus 1 artist’s proof
Signed, dated, titled and numbered on the front
Mainichi Auction Tokyo: 31 July 2021
Estimated: JPY 3,000,000 – 5,000,000
JPY 6,500,000 (Hammer)
JPY 7,572,500 / USD 69,030
YAYOI KUSAMA
Pumpkin, 1982
Lithograph
Signed
From the edition of 75
Mainichi Auction Tokyo: 9 April 2021
Estimated: JPY 3,000,000 – 4,000,000
JPY 4,600,000 (Hammer)
JPY 5,359,000 / USD 48,875
YAYOI KUSAMA
Pumpkin, 1982
Lithograph
Signed
From the edition of 75
SBI Art Auction: 30 January 2021
Estimated: JPY 3,000,000 – 5,000,000
JPY 6,900,000 / USD 65,890
YAYOI KUSAMA
Pumpkin (Kusama 4), 1982
Lithograph, collage
Signed, titled, dated and numbered
From the edition of 75
Christie’s Hong-Kong: 24 November 2018
Estimated: HKD 120,000 -220,000
HKD 475,000 / USD 60,710
YAYOI KUSAMA (JAPAN, B. 1929)
Pumpkin, 1982
Collage on lithograph
Numbered 34/75, titled in Japanese
Signed and dated ‘yayoi Kusama1982′ (lower edge)
SBI Art Auction: 14 July 2018
Estimated: JPY 3,500,000 – 5,500,000
JPY 6,095,000 / USD 54,235
YAYOI KUSAMA
Pumpkin (Kusama 4), 1982
Lithograph, collage
Signed, titled, dated and numbered
From the edition of 75
Sotheby’s Hong-Kong: 1 April 2018
Estimated: HKD 120,000 -180,000
HKD 437,500 / USD 55,740
YAYOI KUSAMA
Pumpkin, 1982
Lithograph and collage
Signed in English, titled in Japanese, dated 1982 and numbered 5/75