Viewing The tallest Yayoi Kusama Pumpkin in Kensington Gardens

Her pumpkins have popped up in parks, galleries and museums all over the world, and are one of Yayoi Kusama’s most popular works – and now London is host to the tallest pumpkin the Japanese artist has made to date, a 6 metre tall beauty that will sit next to the Round Pond in Kensington Gardens until November in all its dazzling glory.

Celebrated for her immersive, hypnotic installations, sculptures and paintings, the kabocha, or pumpkin, has been a motif in Kusama’s works since 1946. They take many forms, colours and shapes, but always appear covered in Kusama’s trademark polka dot pattern. The kabocha harks back to Kusama’s childhood in Japan, and in particular the squash fields that surrounded her family home. Pumpkins can be seen as a kind of stand-in for the artist herself.

But what does Kusama love about pumpkins? They are ubiquitous but unique, hardy yet humorous. “Pumpkins have been a great comfort to me since my childhood”, Kusama has said. “They speak to me of the joy of living. They are humble and amusing at the same time, and I have and always will celebrate them in my art.’