The Infinity Mirrors exhibit by Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama at the Hirshhorn Museum absolutely mesmerized me! I had heard of this exhibit before and was so ecstatic when I heard it was coming to town! Her unique installations are made in tiny rooms that only fit 3 people where you feel completely immersed in her work. 87-year old Kusama has produced more than 20 distinct Infinity Mirror Rooms and is still making more! The Hirshhorn’s exhibit presents 6 of the rooms. It was hard to get tickets, and with a ticket there was a long wait in line, then it took 2 hours to get through the exhibit. The Hirshhorn has extended their opening hours to accommodate all the people that want to see the exhibit. The timed passed are one of the hottest tickets in town as more than 14,000 people have seen the exhibit in just the few weeks it’s been open!




The much hyped exhibit has beautiful motif paintings and sculptures, balloons, and polka dots; pumpkins are a big theme throughout. Kusama uses mirrors and LED lights to bring her vision to life which is what made it so impressive. Three people get to enter each room for exactly 20 seconds. Unfortunately one of the pumpkins has already been damaged. One of Kusama's pumpkins has sold for $784,485 at Sothebys.



Kusama has lived as a voluntary resident at a mental hospital for four decades and continues to work from her wheelchair. As a child, she experienced “visual and aural hallucinations.” The first time she saw a pumpkin, she imagined that it was speaking to her. She dealt with her hallucinations by drawing repetitive patterns and used art as a form of therapy. Kusama believes that pumpkins represent a source of radiant energy, hence you seen them repeated in her works.

Inside the ball

Tips for your visit
The museum has free lockers in the basement to leave your coat. They check bags when you enter as you are not allowed to bring water bottles to the museum. Be sure to wear comfortable shoes since you will be waiting in line for awhile, I know I regretted my shoe choice. Wheelchairs are available to borrow for free from the museum. But since some wheelchairs are too wide to enter and turn around in the rooms, the museum has an innovative solution – you can request a virtual reality headset to view the exhibits on. It’s only in DC for 3 months afterward her exhibit will travel on a 5 city tour to LA, Seattle, New York, Ontario, Cleveland (2018) and Atlanta (2019).