Flower Basket

Medium: Screen-print in colors on Verin d’Arches paper
[5 screens, 5 colors, 6 runs]
Year: 1993
Image: 21.9 x 27.2 cm (8.6 x 10.7 inches)
Sheet: 31.5 x 39 cm (12.4 x 15.4 inches)
Edition: 160
Artist’s Proofs: 16 AP
Printer’s Proofs: 5 PP
Printer: Okabe Tokuzo, Tokyo
Literature: ABE 187
Yayoi Kusama Prints 1979-2017, ABE PUBLISHING LTD, Number 187, Illustrated page 115

Signed, dated, and numbered in pencil on lower edge

 

Flower Basket depicts a stylized basket overflowing with flowers, rendered through Kusama’s unmistakable system of dots, nets, and segmented lines. A large yellow basket, constructed from tightly ordered, brick-like marks, dominates the lower half of the composition. From it rise green stems supporting an array of flowers, red and yellow blooms punctuated with white and black dots, set against a dense black background animated by white, web-like lines. A semicircular yellow handle arches over the bouquet, creating both structural balance and visual enclosure. The composition is rigorously organized despite its apparent exuberance. The basket functions as a stabilizing base, while the flowers introduce vertical movement and variation. Kusama’s use of repetition is systematic: dots articulate petals, leaves, and floral centers; net-like patterns spread across the background; and tiled motifs define the basket itself. Each pattern is distinct, yet all operate within a controlled, flat pictorial space that resists depth and perspective.

Color plays a central role in structuring the image. The dominant yellow of the basket and handle evokes warmth and abundance, contrasted sharply with the black-and-white infinity net behind it. Red flowers, accented with white dots, draw the eye upward and inject a rhythmic pulse into the composition. The green ground and foliage anchor the scene, maintaining a clear separation between figure and background while reinforcing the natural motif.

Produced in the early 1990s, Flower Basket belongs to a period when Kusama was fully embracing the translation of her painted language into printmaking. By this time, her visual grammar had become firmly established: everyday motifs such as flowers and baskets are transformed into carriers of psychological intensity through obsessive patterning. The basket, traditionally associated with containment and care, becomes a vessel for accumulation, echoing Kusama’s lifelong tension between control and excess. Within Kusama’s printed oeuvre, Flower Basket exemplifies her mature ability to balance accessibility and conceptual rigor. The image is immediately legible and decorative, yet beneath its surface lies a disciplined system of repetition and order. This clarity, combined with the work’s vibrant palette and iconic motifs, has contributed to the lasting appeal of Kusama’s prints from the 1990s among collectors seeking works that are both visually assertive and deeply consistent with her broader practice.

 

 

Auction Results

Seoul Auction: 23 July 2024
Estimated: KRW 35,000,000 – 60,000,000
KRW 41,300,000 / USD 29,780

YAYOI KUSAMA
Flower Basket, 1993
Screenprint
Signed, titled, dated and numbered 57/160 on the recto

SBI Art Auction: 24 May 2024
Estimated: JPY 1,500,000 – 2,500,000
JPY 3,680,000 / USD 23,439

YAYOI KUSAMA
Flower Basket (Kusama 187), 1993
Screenprint
Signed, titled, dated and numbered
From the edition of 160

Seoul Auction: 28 September 2021
Estimated: KRW 35,000,000 – 60,000,000
KRW 41,300,000 / USD 29,780

YAYOI KUSAMA
Flower Basket, 1993
Screenprint
Signed, titled, dated and numbered 6/160 on the recto

Mainichi Auction Tokyo: 9 April 2021
Estimated: JPY 1,000,000 – 1,500,000
JPY 1,750,000 (Hammer)
JPY 2,038,750 / USD 18,595

YAYOI KUSAMA
Flower Basket, 1993
Screenprint
Signed
From the edition of 160

SBI Art Auction: 30 January 2021
Estimated: JPY 1,000,000 – 1,500,000
JPY 1,610,000 / USD 15,380

YAYOI KUSAMA
Flower Basket (Kusama 187), 1993
Screenprint
Signed, titled, dated and numbered
From the edition of 160

SBI Art Auction: 31 October 2020
Estimated: JPY 1,000,000 – 1,500,000
JPY 2,127,500 / USD 20,330

YAYOI KUSAMA
Flower Basket (Kusama 187), 1993
Screenprint
Signed, titled, dated and numbered
From the edition of 160

K Auction Seoul: 22 January 2020
Estimated: KRW 18,000,000 – 30,000,000
KRW 24,000,000 (Hammer)
KRW 27,600,000 / USD 23,710

YAYOI KUSAMA
Flower Basket, 1993
Screenprint
Signed, titled, dated and numbered on the recto
Edition: 135/160

Mainichi Auction Tokyo: 19 October 2019
Estimated: JPY 1,000,000 – 1,500,000
JPY 2,000,000 (Hammer)
JPY 2,330,000 / USD 21,495

YAYOI KUSAMA
Flower Basket, 1993
Screenprint
Signed
Edition: 85/160

SBI Art Auction: 27 July 2019
Estimated: JPY 1,000,000 – 1,500,000
JPY 2,415,000 / USD 22,225

YAYOI KUSAMA
Flower Basket (Kusama 187), 1993
Screenprint
Signed, titled, dated and numbered
From the edition of 160

Mainichi Auction Tokyo: 9 March 2019
Estimated: JPY 1,000,000 – 1,500,000
JPY 1,700,000 (Hammer)
JPY 1,980,500 / USD 17,820

YAYOI KUSAMA
Flower Basket, 1993
Screenprint
Signed
From the edition of 160