Pumpkin (White T)
Medium: Screenprint in colors on Verin d’Arches paper
[2 screens, 2 colors, 2 runs]
Year: 1992
Image: 72.3 x 60.4 cm (28.5 x 23.8 inches)
Sheet: 83.5 x 70.5 cm (32.9 x 27.8 inches)
Edition: 120
Artist’s Proofs: 12 AP
Printer’s Proofs: 4 PP
Printer: Okabe Tokuzo, Tokyo
Literature: ABE 149
Yayoi Kusama Prints 1979-2017, ABE Publishing Ltd., Number 149, illustrated page 98
Signed, dated, and numbered in pencil on lower edge
Pumpkin (White T) represents one of the most distilled and uncompromising expressions of Yayoi Kusama’s pumpkin motif. If the yellow versions assert warmth and presence, this monochrome iteration operates through austerity, clarity, and control. Nothing here distracts; everything insists. The pumpkin is rendered entirely in black and white, its volume constructed through rigorously calibrated polka dots that shift in scale with almost mathematical precision. Larger dots assert the central ribs, while finer constellations recede toward the edges, producing depth without any reliance on color or tonal modeling. The result is a form that feels carved rather than painted—less organic, more absolute.
The background plays a crucial, almost conceptual role. The black field is overlaid with white, looping infinity-net lines, echoing Kusama’s earliest obsessive motifs. Unlike the yellow-on-black versions where the background vibrates gently, here it creates a stark optical tension. The pumpkin does not dissolve into infinity, nor does it float above it; it stands firm against it. This opposition, structure versus proliferation, is central to Kusama’s entire practice. Color, or rather the refusal of it, is the key statement. By stripping the pumpkin of yellow, Kusama removes its usual associations with comfort, nostalgia, or protection. What remains is form, rhythm, and repetition: no sentiment, no mediation. The stem, rendered in the same restrained palette, becomes a structural continuation rather than a focal accent.
Conceptually, Pumpkin (White T) feels almost philosophical. By 1992, Kusama no longer needed color or framing devices to assert the pumpkin’s meaning. Stability is assumed, not argued. The pumpkin becomes an emblem of persistence: quiet, immovable, and resistant to dissolution, even when surrounded by infinity. This work stands among the most severe and resolved pumpkin prints of the period. It is less iconic in a Pop sense, but more radical in its restraint. No spectacle, no charm: just form, repetition, and an unshakable sense of presence.
Pumpkin (White T) sold for its highest price on 23 February 2022, at K Auction in Seoul, when it sold for KRW 82,800,000 (USD 69,565),
K Auction: 23 February 2022
Estimated: KRW 50,000,000 – 100,000,000
KRW 82,800,000 / USD 69,565
AUCTION RECORD FOR PUMPKIN (WHITE T)
YAYOI KUSAMA
Pumpkin (White T), 1992
Screenprint
Signed, titled, dated and numbered on the front
Auction Results
Koller Zurich: 26 June 2025
Estimated: CHF 25,000 – 35,000
CHF 30,000 / USD 37,470
YAYOI KUSAMA (Matsumoto 1929–lives and works in Tokyo)
Pumpkin (White) (Kusama 149), 1992
Color silkscreen on wove paper
Edition: 77/120
Signed lower right in pencil: Yayoi Kusama
Also titled lower centre in Japanese and dated in Arabic numerals: かぼちゃ (白) 1992
SBI Art Auction: 25 October 2024
Estimated: JPY 4,000,000 – 7,000,000
JPY 6,095,000 / USD 40,017
YAYOI KUSAMA
Pumpkin (White T) (Kusama 149), 1992
Screenprint
Signed, titled, dated and numbered
From the edition of 120
Mainichi Auction: 19 October 2024
Estimated: JPY 5,000,000 – 8,000,000
JPY 6,440,000 / USD 43,070
YAYOI KUSAMA
Pumpkin (White T), 1992
Screenprint
Signed, titled, dated and numbered
From the edition of 120
Seoul Auction: 27 February 2024
Estimated: KRW 60,000,000 – 100,000,000
KRW 70,800,000 / USD 53,170
YAYOI KUSAMA
Pumpkin (White T), 1992
Screenprint
Signed, titled, dated and numbered 101/120 on the verso
Mainichi Auction: 28 October 2023
Estimated: JPY 4,000,000 – 6,000,000
JPY 6,900,000 / USD 46,105
YAYOI KUSAMA
Pumpkin (White T), 1992
Screenprint
Signed, titled, dated and numbered
From the edition of 120
SBI Art Auction: 15 July 2023
Estimated: JPY 4,000,000 – 7,000,000
JPY 8,625,000 / USD 62,480
YAYOI KUSAMA
Pumpkin (White T) (Kusama 149), 1992
Screenprint
Signed, titled, dated and numbered
From the edition of 120
New Art Est-Ouest Auction: 29 May 2022
Estimated: JPY 4,000,000 – 6,000,000
JPY 7,260,000 / USD 57,079
YAYOI KUSAMA
PUMPKIN (WHITE T), 1992
Screenprint
Signed, titled, dated and numbered on the margin
Christie’s New-York: 21 April 2022
Estimated: USD 40,000 – 60,000
USD 69,300
YAYOI KUSAMA
Pumpkin (White T), 1992
Screen-print on wove paper
Signed and titled in pencil, Numbered 65⁄120
K Auction: 23 February 2022
Estimated: KRW 50,000,000 – 100,000,000
KRW 82,800,000 / USD 69,565
AUCTION RECORD FOR PUMPKIN (WHITE T)
YAYOI KUSAMA
Pumpkin (White T), 1992
Screenprint
Signed, titled, dated and numbered on the front
Ravenel Taiwan: 18 July 2021
Estimated: TWD 1,100,000 – 2,000,000
TWD 1,380,000 / USD 49,286
YAYOI KUSAMA
Pumpkin (white T), 1992
Screenprint, edition no. 89/120
Signed lower right Yayoi Kusama, titled Pumpkin (white T) in Japanese
Numbered lower left 89/120 and dated 1992
Seoul Auction: 24 February 2021
Estimated: KRW 35,000,000 – 50,000,000
KRW 64,400,000 / USD 58,007
YAYOI KUSAMA
Pumpkin (white T), 1992
Screenprint
Signed, titled, numbered and dated on the recto
Sotheby’s Hong-Kong: 19 May 2020
Estimated: HKD 100,000 – 150,000
HKD 325,000 / USD 41,930
YAYOI KUSAMA (b.1929)
PUMPKIN (WHITE T), 1992
Screen-print
Signed in English, titled in Kanji, dated 1992 and numbered 18/120
This work is number 18 from an edition of 120, plus 12 artist’s proofs and 4 printer’s proofs