Pumpkin God
Medium: Screen-print in colors on Verin d’Arches paper
[3 screens, 2 colors, 3 runs]
Year: 1993
Image: 65.5 x 53.5 cm (25.8 x 21.1 inches)
Sheet: 76 x 62.5 cm (29.9 x 24.5 inches)
Edition: 120
Artist’s Proofs: 12 AP
Printer’s Proofs: 5 PP
Printer: Okabe Tokuzo, Tokyo
Literature: ABE 183
Yayoi Kusama Prints 1979-2017, ABE PUBLISHING LTD, Number 183, Illustrated page 113
Signed, dated, and numbered in pencil on lower edge
Pumpkin God marks a clear escalation in Yayoi Kusama’s pumpkin iconography. If the earlier pumpkins assert presence, this one commands it. The title is not incidental; it frames the work conceptually, and the image delivers accordingly. Pumpkin God is elongated, almost anthropomorphic, its ribs stretched into a vertical surge that feels less agricultural than totemic. The form rises rather than sits. Kusama exaggerates the curvature and elongation, giving the pumpkin a sense of ascension: no longer grounded, but elevated, nearly ritualistic. It reads less as an object and more as a figure.
The orange-on-black palette is decisive. Orange, here, is neither playful nor decorative; it glows with intensity, bordering on incandescence. Against the black field, it feels molten, alive. This is one of Kusama’s most charged uses of color in the pumpkin series. Where yellow often stabilizes and red agitates, orange radiates. It suggests energy, force, and transformation. The background is densely packed with sharp, angular net lines, more aggressive than the softer infinity nets seen in earlier works. They form a fractured, almost cracked surface, like a cosmic or geological field. Rather than receding, this background presses forward, amplifying the pumpkin’s authority. The figure does not dissolve into infinity; it dominates it. The polka dots are deployed with near-maniacal precision. Their gradation is extreme, creating deep internal rhythms that pull the eye upward and inward. The repetition here is no longer calming or containing, it is incantatory. The dots feel less like units of structure and more like pulses of energy coursing through the form.
Technically, the print reflects Kusama at a point of total control. There is no hesitation in the line, no softness in the transitions. Everything is deliberate, emphatic, resolved. The surface is dense, saturated, and visually uncompromising. Conceptually, Pumpkin God represents a moment where the pumpkin transcends its autobiographical roots. It is no longer merely a stabilizing symbol or a personal refuge. It becomes a figure of authority. One could read it as a projection of resilience elevated to the level of belief: repetition not just as coping mechanism, but as doctrine. Within the broader pumpkin corpus, this 1993 work stands apart as perhaps one of the most assertive and monumental interpretations of the motif. It does not comfort. It does not negotiate. It stands, radiates, and rules.
Pumpkin God sold for its highest price at Mainichi Auction in Tokyo, on 26 February 2022, when it sold for JPY 16,500,000 (USD 142,665).
Mainichi Auction: 26 February 2022
Estimated: JPY 5,000,000 – 7,000,000
JPY 16,500,000 / USD 142,665
AUCTION RECORD FOR PUMPKING GOD
YAYOI KUSAMA
Pumpkin God, 1993
Screenprint
Signed
From the edition of 120
Auction Results
Alex Cooper Auctioneers: 13 June 2025
Estimated: USD 20,000 – 40,000
USD 10,000 (Hammer)
USD 12,800
YAYOI KUSAMA (Japanese, b. 1929)
Pumpkin God (Kusama 183), 1993
Screenprint in colors
Edition: 88/120
Pencil signed “Yayoi Kusama” lower right
Inscribed in Japanese lower center
Mainichi Auction Tokyo: 29 April 2023
Estimated: JPY 7,000,000 – 10,000,000
JPY 11,270,000 / USD 82,715
YAYOI KUSAMA
Pumpkin God, 1993
Screenprint
Signed
From the edition of 120
Clars Auction Gallery: 9 February 2023
Estimated: USD 30,000 – 50,000
USD 21,000 (Hammer)
USD 26,460
YAYOI KUSAMA (B. 1929)
Pumpkin God, 1993
Signed, Titled, dated and numbered 88/120
Mainichi Auction: 26 February 2022
Estimated: JPY 5,000,000 – 7,000,000
JPY 16,500,000 / USD 142,665
AUCTION RECORD FOR PUMPKING GOD
YAYOI KUSAMA
Pumpkin God, 1993
Screenprint
Signed
From the edition of 120
Mainichi Auction: 31 July 2021
Estimated: JPY 4,000,000 – 6,000,000
JPY 7,400,000 (Hammer)
JPY 8,621,000 / USD 78,590
YAYOI KUSAMA
Pumpkin God, 1993
Screenprint
Signed
From the edition of 120
Mainichi Auction: 18 June 2021
Estimated: JPY 3,000,000 – 4,000,000
JPY 7,300,000 (Hammer)
JPY 8,504,500 / USD 77,165
YAYOI KUSAMA
Pumpkin God, 1993
Screenprint
Signed
From the edition of 120
Mainichi Auction: 14 July 2018
Estimated: JPY 3,000,000 – 5,000,000
JPY 4,830,000 / USD 42,980
YAYOI KUSAMA
Pumpkin God, 1993
Screenprint
Signed
From the edition of 120
Mainichi Auction: 15 July 2017
Estimated: JPY 3,500,000 – 4,500,000
JPY 3,500,000 (Hammer)
JPY 4,077,500 / USD 36,235
YAYOI KUSAMA
Pumpkin God, 1993
Screenprint
Signed
Edition: 88/120