Yellow Colored Pumpkin
Medium: Screenprint in colors on Verin d’Arches paper
[3 screens, 2 colors, 3 runs]
Year: 1994
Image: 45.5 x 52.5 cm (17.9 x 20.7 inches)
Sheet: 55 x 63.5 cm (21.7 x 25 inches)
Edition: 98
Artist’s Proofs: 9 AP
Printer’s Proofs: 5 PP
Printer: Okabe Tokuzo, Tokyo
Literature: ABE 190
Yayoi Kusama Prints 1979-2017, ABE PUBLISHING LTD, Number 190, Illustrated page 116
Signed, dated, and numbered in pencil on lower edge
Yell0w-Colored Pumpkin from 1994 represents one of the most recognizable and consistent expressions of Yayoi Kusama’s visual language. By this point in her career, the pumpkin is firmly established as a recurring form, neither anecdotal nor descriptive, but a stable structure through which repetition, color, and rhythm are explored with clarity.
The composition is organized around a single, centrally placed pumpkin rendered in yellow and black, a color pairing Kusama returns to frequently. The yellow surface is densely articulated with black polka dots that vary in scale, following the segmented lobes of the pumpkin and reinforcing its volume without relying on traditional shading. The chromatic choice is deliberate: yellow provides luminosity and immediacy, while black introduces structure and visual weight. Behind the pumpkin, a black background is animated by a fine, continuous net pattern drawn in yellow. This all-over field creates a sense of extension beyond the edges of the image, contrasting with the clearly bounded form of the pumpkin itself. The dialogue between the contained object and the expansive background reflects a recurring dynamic in Kusama’s work, where repetition serves both to define form and to suggest continuity.
In this print, the restrained palette and precise screenprinting emphasize consistency rather than variation. The pumpkin functions as a familiar anchor within Kusama’s practice, an image that remains constant while allowing subtle shifts in scale, density, and surface pattern to shape the viewer’s experience.
Auction Results
Mallet Japan: 4 December 2025
Estimated: JPY 4,000,000 – 6,000,000
JPY 10,000,000 (Hammer)
JPY 11,650,000 / USD 75,100
YAYOI KUSAMA
Yellow Colored Pumpkin (Abe 190), 1994
Screenprint in colors on Arches
Signed, titled, dated and numbered in pencil
From the edition of 98 (there were also 9 A.P.)
Printed by Tokuzo Okabe
Sotheby’s Hong-Kong: 29 May 2025
Estimated: HKD 200,000 – 400,000
HKD 330,200 / USD 42,175
YAYOI KUSAMA (b. 1929)
Yellow Colored Pumpkin (Kusama CR 190), 1994
Screenprint
Signed Y. Kusama, titled 黃色かぼちゃ, dated 1994 and numbered 91/98 (lower edge)
This work is number 91 from an edition of 98, plus 9 artist’s proofs and 5 printer’s proofs
SBI Art Auction: 6 July 2024
Estimated: JPY 4,000,000 – 7,000,000
JPY 12,075,000 / USD 75,117
YAYOI KUSAMA
Yellow Colored Pumpkin (Kusama 190), 1994
Screenprint
Signed, titled and numbered
From the edition of 98
Christie’s London: 28 September 2023
Estimated: GBP 30,000 – 50,000
GBP 44,100 / USD 53,892
YAYOI KUSAMA (B. 1929)
Yellow Colored Pumpkin, 1994
Screen-print in colors on Arches wove paper
Signed, titled in Japanese, dated and numbered 92/98 in pencil
Mainichi Auction: 10 December 2022
Estimated: JPY 6,000,000 – 8,000,000
JPY 11,500,000 (Hammer)
JPY 13,397,500 / USD 98,245
AUCTION RECORD FOR YELLOW-COLORED PUMPKIN
YAYOI KUSAMA
Yellow colored pumpkin, 1994
Screenprint
Signed
From the edition of 98
Mainichi Auction: 30 October 2021
Estimated: JPY 3,000,000 – 5,000,000
JPY 8,800,000 (Hammer)
JPY 10,252,000 / USD 89,955
YAYOI KUSAMA
Yellow colored pumpkin, 1994
Screenprint
Signed
From the edition of 98
K Auction Seoul: 23 June 2021
Estimated: KRW 40,000,000 – 80,000,000
KRW 111,550,000 / USD 98,170
YAYOI KUSAMA (B. 1929)
Yellow Colored Pumpkin, 1994
Screenprint
Signed, titled, dated and annotated “HC”
An Hors Commerce aside the edition of 98
Sotheby’s Hong-Kong: 15 September 2020
Estimated: HKD 150,000 – 250,000
HKD 302,400 / USD 39,020
YAYOI KUSAMA (b. 1929)
YELLOW COLOURED PUMPKIN
Screen-print
Signed in English, titled in Japanese, dated 1994 and numbered 92/98
Christie’s Hong-Kong: 11 July 2020
Estimated: HKD 100,000 – 150,000
HKD 325,000 / USD 41,925
YAYOI KUSAMA (B. 1929)
Yellow Colored Pumpkin, 1994
Screenprint
Signed, dated and numbered ’93/98 1994 Y.Kusama’
Titled in Japanese (lower edge)
Christie’s Hong-Kong: 5 June 2020
Estimated: HKD 100,000 – 150,000
HKD 300,000 / USD 38,710
YAYOI KUSAMA (B. 1929)
Yellow Colored Pumpkin, 1994
Screen-print
Numbered, dated and signed ’57/98 1994 Y.Kusama’, titled in Japanese (lower edge)