Yayoi Kusama exhibits more than 160 paintings and drawings at Serralves

Artist Yayoi Kusama is exhibiting more than 160 paintings, drawings and sculptures about her life and work at Serralves, until 29 September, some of which are being shown for the first time in Europe. The 'Yayoi Kusama: 1945 - TO NOW' exhibition is organised chronologically and thematically: Infinity, Accumulation, Radical Connectivity, Biocosmic, Death and Force of Life.

The more than 160 works tell the story of the life and work of the 95-year-old Japanese artist and explore her career from her first drawings, made as a teenager during World War II, to her most recent immersive art pieces.

The exhibition's curator, Filipa Loureiro, revealed, quoted by Agência Lusa, that the exhibition will not be confined to the museum, but will also extend to Serralves Park where, in April, her famous yellow pumpkins with black 'dots' - one of her most iconic references - and the 'Narcissus Garden' (stainless steel spheres of different sizes) will be exhibited.

'Through this exhibition, we're trying to show the relationship and unrelenting search between interior and exterior that is present in all of Kusama's work', she said.

The exhibition includes images that Kusama painted of herself throughout her career, conveying her psychological and emotional experiences and the idea of infinity, as well as older works that speak of the destruction she witnessed during World War II, works with circular patterns as a metaphor for the sun, earth and moon, and 'semi-representational' pieces in strong, saturated colours with profiles of women and flower shoots in scenes that ground human and plant life.

The exhibition was designed and organised by the Museum of Visual Culture M+ in Hong Kong, in collaboration with the Serralves Foundation and the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao.