WHAT?  Pumpkin (2024) Yayoi Kusama

WHERE?  The Round Pond, Kensington Gardens, W2 3XA

WHEN?  Now until 3rd November, Free to view 

WHY GO?  For art in the park.  Art aficionado or not, Kusama’s playful sculptures are recognisable by everyone the world over.

Whether you’ve seen her electrifying multimedia exhibitions in museums, her work on walls in galleries or even her collaborations with high profile brands, there’s nothing quite like seeing her famous signature Pumpkin up close in a natural park setting where it sits splendidly in harmony with the surroundings. 

Sited prominently by the Round Pond for all to admire, this large scale sculpture echoes her first major retrospective at the Serpentine in 2000 which included her paintings, collages, films and obsession with dots and stripes. 

Kusama’s signature polka-dot pumpkins, first created in 1946, have morphed into all sorts of diverse artistic arenas and are loved by fans the world over connecting her creative spirit with like minds. “They are humble and amusing at the same time and speak to me of the joy of living”, she states of this new staging.

There’s been no shortage of ground breaking sculptures sited in the famed Kensington Gardens recently, from Gerhard Richter’s colourful striped plinth at Serpentine South to the famous annual Serpentine Pavilion created this year by Seoul architect Minsuk Cho.

IN THE KNOW  Ninety-five year old Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama lives and works in Tokyo.  

Her recent Infinity Mirror Rooms landmark installation garnered rapturous public praise plus Instagram traction when shown at Tate Modern recently (it closed in April). 

It was one of her largest installations to date and this latest free public sculpture, standing 6 metres tall, is recorded to be her largest pumpkin sculpture to date.