NGV International has just unveiled its latest big-ticket acquisition, and it’s a showstopper. Dancing Pumpkin (2020) is a striking 5-metre-tall, bronze pumpkin sculpture by renowned Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama, featuring the artist’s signature polka dot motif. Weighing in at over nine tonnes, the eye-catching piece is on display in the gallery’s Federation Court, and is but a teaser in the lead-up to the gallery’s major summer exhibition dedicated to Kusama which opens on December 15.
Dancing Pumpkin features eleven whimsical yellow-and-black polka-dotted legs, giving it a sense of joyful, carefree movement as if it’s dancing right before your eyes. The work is one of Kusama’s most conceptual and ambitious interpretations of this iconic shape to date. It’s also one of the largest — you can even walk beneath the sculpture for a unique perspective on this larger-than-life artwork.
Before being added to the NGV’s collection of more than 76,000 works, Dancing Pumpkin had only been showcased in two other locations worldwide: the New York Botanical Garden in 2021, and Doha’s Museum of Islamic Art from 2022-3.
“We’re delighted to unveil Yayoi Kusama’s breathtaking Dancing Pumpkin sculpture ahead of our major exhibition surveying the artist’s groundbreaking career,” said Tony Ellwood AM, Director of the NGV. “The newly acquired work […] will leave a defining impact on the NGV Collection and will be available for all Victorians to enjoy for many years to come.”
Kusama’s fascination with pumpkins began when she was a child on her family’s seed and plant farm in Matsumoto, Japan. Since then, pumpkins have become a beloved signature motif in her expansive body of work, appearing in everything from paintings to immersive mirror rooms across her eight-decade career.
In addition to Dancing Pumpkin, NGV International also currently has a number of other free-to-access Kusama installations on show, including the interactive The Obliteration Room (2002–present) in the children’s gallery, Narcissus Garden (1966/2024), featuring 1,400 mirrored spheres in Federation Court, and a brand-new pink-and-black polka dot artwork created specifically for the iconic NGV water wall.
When it opens in December, Yayoi Kusama will span the entire ground floor of NGV International, offering one of the most comprehensive retrospectives of Kusama’s work ever presented globally. The exhibition traces the artist’s remarkable creative journey from childhood to the present day via a rich selection of paintings, sculptures, installations, collage, fashion and film sourced from Kusama’s personal collection as well as institutions and private collections across Japan and Australia — a fitting tribute to one of the most influential artists of our time. Find out more about the exhibition here.