All the Eternal Love I Have for the Pumpkins, 2016. Yayoi Kusama. Wood, mirror, plastic, acrylic, and LED. Dallas Museum of Art, TWO x TWO for AIDS and Art Fund, 2018.12.A–I. ©YAYOI KUSAMA. Courtesy Ota Fine Arts, Victoria Miro, and David Zwirner.
From immersive contemporary installations to treasured traditional paintings, the Cincinnati Art Museum celebrates the richness of Japanese art with two exciting exhibitions this summer. Opening July 17, visitors can step into Yayoi Kusama’s mesmerizing Infinity Mirror Room—on view at CAM for the first time—while Gifts from Japan presents a remarkable collection of 40 Japanese paintings recently gifted to the museum by Dr. Toshihide Hirose. Together, these exhibitions offer a captivating journey through the innovation, beauty, and lasting influence of Japanese art. Learn more below!
Yayoi Kusama: All the Eternal Love I Have for the Pumpkins
July 17 – October 18, 2026
Yayoi Kusama: All the Eternal Love I Have for the Pumpkins (2016) features an array of yellow gourds of various sizes, adorned with black polka dots, that are surrounded by mirrors. The result is an immersive installation that allows the visitor to become part of the artwork as they seemingly enter an infinite field of glowing pumpkins.
All the Eternal Love I Have for the Pumpkins illustrates Kusama’s characteristic themes, including infinity and obsessive repetition. The artist has described the pumpkin—one of her quintessential symbols—as a form of self-portraiture. A rare assemblage of a dozen Pumpkin acrylic paintings on canvas made between 1990-2004 will also greet gallery visitors, courtesy of the Masterworks Foundation.
Kusama’s career spans more than seven decades, and her Infinity Mirror Rooms are some of her most experimental and iconic works, often incorporating a variety of illuminated objects. Infinity Mirror Room—Phalli’s Field (1965) was Kusama’s first installation to use mirrors to create a sense of endless space, featuring a floor covered in hundreds of red-spotted, white fabric-stuffed tubes. Kusama’s mirrored installations represented an innovative step in the emergence of an increasingly experiential practice. In each work, the visitor’s reflection seems to extend into infinity while they simultaneously have an intimate and individualized room experience.
All the Eternal Love I Have for the Pumpkins draws on Kusama’s seminal pumpkin room, Mirror Room (Pumpkin) (1991), which was shown at for the Japanese Pavilion at the 1993 Biennale Arte in Venice.
Yayoi Kusama: All the Eternal Love I Have for the Pumpkins is on loan from the Dallas Museum of Art.
To learn more, click here.
Tsuchiya Reisetsu 土屋嶺雪 (Japanese, 1881–1965), Squirrels and Pomegranate (detail), early 20th century, hanging scroll, ink and color on silk, Gift of Dr. Toshihide Hirose, 2025.87
Gifts from Japan
Now – October 8, 2026
Conversations Gallery
Gifts from Japan highlights a gift of 40 Japanese paintings the Cincinnati Art Museum received in early 2025 from Dr. Toshihide Hirose, an orthodontist and art collector in Hirosaki, Japan. Through his interests in art, he became an avid collector of Japanese paintings of the late Meiji (1868–1912) and early Shōwa (1926–1989) eras.
The 40 gifted paintings represent the work of nine artists: Kagawa Hoen (1840–1912), Kondo Suiseki (1870–1950), Maekawa Bunrei (1837–1917), Miura Bunji (1906–1994), Mochizuki Gyokusen (1834–1913), Tanaka Rankoku (1894–1959), Tatewaki Taizan (1886–1970), Tsuchiya Reisetsu (1881–1965), Yamamoto Shuntei (1889–1985). Together, these artists covered a wide range of subjects, including legendary heroes, beautiful women, Kabuki actors, mythical gods, Daoist immortals, landscapes, flower-and-birds, and animals.
Gifts from Japan will display 18 selected works across two rotations:
Rotation 1: June 22–August 24, 2026
Rotation 2: August 24–October 18, 2026
To learn more, click here.