A PUMPKIN (RY)
Medium: Screenprint in colors on Verin d’Arches paper with Lame
[2 screens, 2 colors, 3 runs]
Year: 2004
Image: 27 x 32.5 cm (10.6 x 12.8 inches)
Sheet: 38 x 45.5 cm (15 x 17.9 inches)
Edition: 120
Artist’s Proofs: 12 AP
Printer’s Proofs: 5 PP
Printer: Okabe Tokuzo, Tokyo
Literature: ABE 317
Yayoi Kusama Prints 1979-2017, ABE PUBLISHING LTD, Number 317, Illustrated page 183
Signed, dated, and numbered in pencil on lower edge
Created in 2004, A Pumpkin (RY) belongs to a period in which Yayoi Kusama revisits one of her most familiar forms through carefully calibrated variations in color and surface. The composition is direct and centered: a single pumpkin occupies the pictorial field, presented as a stable and clearly defined structure rather than a descriptive object.
Color is central to the character of this print. The pumpkin is rendered in yellow and red, a combination that departs from Kusama’s more frequent yellow-and-black pairings. Red polka dots articulate the surface of the pumpkin, their scale shifting gradually along the vertical lobes of the form. This chromatic dialogue between yellow and red introduces warmth and density, giving the image a grounded, almost tactile presence. The background is composed of a red field overlaid with a fine yellow net pattern. This continuous network extends evenly across the surface, suggesting movement and continuity beyond the edges of the image. Set against this active background, the pumpkin remains contained and legible, its outline clearly separating it from the surrounding field.
In A Pumpkin (RY), Kusama demonstrates how subtle changes in palette can reshape the mood of a familiar image. The work maintains the repetition and structural clarity characteristic of her pumpkin prints, while the red background introduces a more enveloping atmosphere, emphasizing the balance between containment and extension that runs consistently through her practice.
Auction Results
Estimated: HKD 160,000 – 260,000
HKD 206,400 / USD 26,520
Signed, titled, dated and numbered 75/120 in pencil
(there were also 12 artist’s proofs)
Printed by Okabe Tokuzo, Japan
Ravenel Taipei: 1 June 2025
Estimated: TWD 700,000 – 900,000
TWD 660,000 / USD 22,065
YAYOI KUSAMA (Japanese, 1929)
A Pumpkin (RY) (Kusama 317), 2004
Screenprint
Signed lower right Yayoi Kusama
Titled lower center A Pumpkin (RY) and dated 2004
Numbered lower left 35/120
Est-Ouest Auctions Tokyo: 25 November 2023
Estimated: JPY 4,000,000 – 6,000,000
JPY 9,545,000 / USD 63,865
YAYOI KUSAMA
A PUMPKIN (RY), 2004
Screenprint, lame
Signed, titled, dated and edition in the margin
Mainichi Auction: 16 July 2022
Estimated: JPY 3,000,000 – 4,000,000
JPY 8,000,000 (Hammer)
JPY 9,320,000 / USD 67,290
YAYOI KUSAMA
A PUMPKIN (RY), 2004
Screenprint, lame
Signed, from the edition of 120
Ravenel Taipei: 17 July 2021
Estimated: TWD 750,000 – 1,000,000
TWD 1,320,000 / USD 47,143
YAYOI KUSAMA (Japanese, 1929)
A Pumpkin (RY), 2004
Screenprint
Signed lower right Yayoi Kusama
Titled lower center A Pumpkin (RY) and dated 2004
Numbered lower left 35/120
Mainichi Auction: 18 June 2021
Estimated: JPY 1,500,000 – 2,000,000
JPY 4,200,000 (Hammer)
JPY 4,893,000 / USD 44,400
YAYOI KUSAMA
A PUMPKIN (RY), 2004
Screenprint, lame
Signed, from the edition of 120