Dancing Pumpkin (YBL)
Medium: Screenprint in colors on Verin d’Arches paper
[3 screens, 2 colors, 3 runs]
Year: 2004
Image: 39.5 x 56.3 cm (15.6 x 22.2 inches)
Sheet: 50 x 65.5 cm (19.7 x 25.8 inches)
Edition: 120
Artist’s Proofs: 12 AP
Printer’s Proofs: 5 PP
Printer: Okabe Tokuzo, Tokyo
Literature: ABE 320
Yayoi Kusama Prints 1979-2007, ABE PUBLISHING LTD, Number 320, illustrated page 185
Signed, titled, numbered, and dated in pencil
The print is a vibrant composition, typically featuring a pumpkin set against an “infinity net” background, with both the pumpkin and the background covered in Kusama’s signature polka dots. The “YBL” in the title likely refers to a specific color variation, such as Yellow and Black on a background of a different color (as other variants like YOR, BY, GB-D exist). The varying sizes of the dots on the pumpkin’s surface are meticulously arranged to create a sense of volume, curve, and movement, making the two-dimensional object appear three-dimensional.
For Kusama, the pumpkin motif has deep personal significance, stemming from childhood hallucinations and memories of her family’s seed nursery. Kusama views pumpkins as sources of comfort, stability, and modesty, admiring their “generous unpretentiousness” and “spiritual balance”. They often function as a form of self-portrait, mirroring a balance of vulnerability and resilience. The repetitive polka dots are a key conceptual language, representing her vision of endless repetition, the universe, and her desire for self-obliteration (dissolving one’s self into the infinite). The repetitive nature of creating these patterns is a cathartic process for Kusama, a way to confront and suppress her anxieties and hallucinations, turning something potentially frightening into something amusing and inspiring.
Auction Results
SBI Art Auction: 23 May 2025
Estimated: JPY 5,000,000 – 8,000,000
JPY 10,005,000 / USD 70,180
YAYOI KUSAMA
Dancing Pumpkin (YBL) (Kusama 320), 2004
Screenprint
Signed, titled, dated and numbered
From the edition of 120
Mainichi Auction Tokyo: 29 June 2024
Estimated: JPY 5,000,000 – 7,000,000
JPY 8,050,000 / USD 50,035
YAYOI KUSAMA
Dancing Pumpkin (YBL), 2004
Screenprint
Signed, titled, dated and numbered
From the edition of 120
Mainichi Auction Tokyo: 28 October 2023
Estimated: JPY 6,000,000 – 8,000,000
JPY 8,970,000 / USD 59,935
YAYOI KUSAMA
Dancing Pumpkin (YBL), 2004
Screenprint
Signed, titled, dated and numbered
From the edition of 120
New Auction: 24 June 2023
Estimated: JPY 6,000,000 – 9,000,000
JPY 7,475,000 / USD 52,024
YAYOI KUSAMA
Dancing Pumpkin (YBL), 2004
Screenprint
Signed, titled, dated and numbered
From the edition of 120
Christie’s online: 20 April 2023
Estimated: HKD 200,000 – 400,000
HKD 441,000 / USD 56,184
YAYOI KUSAMA (B. 1929)
Dancing Pumpkin (YBL), 2004
Screen-print
Signed, titled in Japanese and numbered ‘29/120 2004 Yayoi Kusama’ (lower edge)
Est-Ouest Auctions: 29 May 2022
Estimated: JPY 4,500,000 – 6,500,000
JPY 8,470,000 / USD 66,622
YAYOI KUSAMA (B. 1929)
Dancing Pumpkin (YBL), 2004
Screenprint
Signed, titled in Japanese and numbered on the margin
K Auction: 17 March 2021
Estimated: KRW 57,000,000 – 65,000,000
KRW 80,500,000 / USD 71,746
YAYOI KUSAMA (B. 1929)
Dancing Pumpkin (YBL), 2004
Screenprint
Signed, titled, dated and annotated ‘PP’ on the margin
Christie’s Hong-Kong: 2 December 2020
Estimated: HKD 150,000 – 380,000
HKD 325,000 / USD 41,927
YAYOI KUSAMA (B. 1929)
Dancing Pumpkin YBL, 2004
Screen-print
Signed ‘Yayoi Kusama’, Numbered ‘102/120’,
Dated ‘2004’, titled ‘YBL’ and Japanese (lower edge)