BUTTERFLY

Year: 1985
Medium: Screen-print in colors on Verin d’Arches paper
[6 screens, 5 colors, 6 runs]
Image: 45.5 x 53 cm (17.9 x 20.9 inches)
Sheet: 53 x 60.8 cm (19.9 x 23.9 inches)
Edition: 100
Artist’s Proofs: 10 AP
Printer: Ishida Ryoichi, Tokyo
Literature: ABE 81
ABE Publishing Ltd., Yayoi Kusama: Prints 1979-2017, Tokyo, 2017, Number 81, Illustrated page 55

Signed, dated, and numbered in pencil on lower edge

Butterfly features a single butterfly suspended against a dense, black background structured by turquoise net-like lines. The insect’s wings are symmetrically deployed, their pale ground animated by red dots of varying density, edged with yellow and outlined in red. Circular, vortex-like motifs punctuate each wing, while the elongated body is rendered with the same obsessive segmentation that characterizes Kusama’s broader visual language. Formally, the composition rests on a precise equilibrium between delicacy and control. The butterfly, which is traditionally a symbol of transformation and fragility, is here totally fixed, almost pinned in space, its surface consumed by repetition. The background’s Infinity Net pattern, drawn in continuous turquoise lines, creates a sense of boundless extension that contrasts with the clearly defined silhouette of the insect. This opposition reinforces a recurring tension in Kusama’s work: the coexistence of individuality and dissolution.

The chromatic choices are both striking and deliberate. Red and yellow introduce vibrancy and warmth, while the black ground absorbs depth and negates perspective. The dotted patterns do not merely decorate the butterfly; they assert Kusama’s long-standing engagement with hallucination, accumulation, and self-obliteration. The spiral forms embedded within the wings subtly echo her interest in psychic interiority, turning the butterfly into a psychological as well as natural motif.

Created in the mid-1980s, Butterfly belongs to a period when Kusama was rearticulating her key themes with renewed clarity, translating decades of experimentation into highly legible printed images. Within her printed oeuvre, the work stands as a compelling synthesis of her symbolic vocabulary: nature rendered through obsessive order, beauty held in tension with fixation. Its enduring appeal lies in this balance—immediately recognizable, visually seductive, yet unmistakably rooted in the artist’s deeply personal cosmology.

Auction Results

SBI Art Auction: 25 January 2025
Estimated: JPY 2,000,000 – 3,000,000
JPY 2,760,000 / USD 17,690

YAYOI KUSAMA
Butterfly (Kusama 81), 1985
Screenprint
Signed, titled, dated and numbered
From the edition of 100

New Art Est-Ouest: 28 May 2024
Estimated: JPY 2,000,000 – 3,000,000
JPY 2,242,500 / USD 14,407

YAYOI KUSAMA
Butterfly (ABE 81), 1985
Screenprint
Signed, dated, titled and edition on the margin
Edition: 100 + 10 AP

Phillips Hong-Kong: 7 October 2023
Estimated: HKD 100,000 – 200,000
HKD 165,100 / USD 21,080

Bonhams Hong-Kong: 27 May 2023
Estimated: HKD 100,000 – 150,000
HKD 153,600 / USD 19,535

Est-Ouest Auctions Tokyo: 18 November 2021
Estimated: JPY 1,500,000 – 2,500,000
JPY 3,146,000 / USD 27,540

YAYOI KUSAMA
BUTTERFLY, 1985
Screenprint
Signed
From an edition of 100

Mainichi Auctions Tokyo: 31 July 2021
Estimated: JPY 1,200,000 – 1,700,000
JPY 2,100,000 (Hammer)
JPY 2,446,500 / USD 22,305

YAYOI KUSAMA
BUTTERFLY, 1985
Screenprint
Signed
From the edition of 100

Mallet Japan: 10 September 2020
Estimated: JPY 1,000,000 – 1,500,000
JPY 1,100,000 (Hammer)
JPY 1,281,500 / USD 12,070

YAYOI KUSAMA
Butterfly, 1985
Screenprint in colors
Signed
Edition: 47/100 (there were also 10 Artist’s Proof)