Yayoi Kusama bronze pumpkin installed at Nanjing’s Yangshan Lake

DEJI Art Museum completed the installation of Yayoi Kusama’s tallest bronze pumpkin sculpture on Sept. 26 beside Yangshan Lake in Nanjing. The public work extends the museum’s program into an outdoor setting and gives one of Kusama’s signature motifs a new home in the city.

Why it matters: - The installation turns one of Yayoi Kusama’s best-known forms into a permanent public landmark in Nanjing. - The project extends DEJI Art Museum’s reach beyond its galleries and into a lakeside civic space. - The sculpture adds a new contemporary art destination to Xianlin, outside Nanjing’s central museum district.

What happened: - DEJI Art Museum unveiled a monumental bronze Pumpkin by Yayoi Kusama beside Yangshan Lake in Nanjing’s Xianlin area. - Installation was completed Sept. 26, and the sculpture is now on long-term public view. - The work is part of DEJI Art Museum’s public-art project, Pumpkin Among Clouds by the Lake.

The details: - The sculpture measures 6 meters, or 19.7 feet, high and 5.5 meters, or 18 feet, in diameter. - DEJI Art Museum says the work is the tallest bronze pumpkin sculpture of Kusama’s career. - The piece is now part of the DEJI Art Museum collection. - The same sculpture was previously shown at the Round Pond in London’s Kensington Gardens from July 9 to Nov. 3, 2024, in a presentation organized by Serpentine. - The lakeside site places the sculpture amid water, vegetation and seasonal change. - The work’s rounded, segmented form is covered in Kusama’s signature dot pattern. - The sculpture can be seen from across the lake while still retaining the irregular contours associated with Kusama’s pumpkins. - Movement through the landscape changes the viewing experience, with terrain and vegetation partly concealing or fully revealing the work. - The lake, nearby hills, cloud-shaped buildings and seasonal plant life frame the sculpture.

Between the lines: - Kusama’s pumpkin motif carries added weight in this setting because the artist’s interest in pumpkins began in childhood, when her family ran a seed business in Matsumoto, Japan. - The Nanjing installation fits Kusama’s long-running focus on recurring forms and patterns across painting, sculpture, installation, performance, film, fiction and poetry. - The project also reflects a broader shift toward public art that is designed to be experienced as part of daily urban life, not only inside museums. - Nanjing’s identity as one of China’s four ancient capitals gives the new work a historical backdrop that contrasts with its contemporary form. - Changjiang Road, often called Museum Mile, already links more than a dozen museums and cultural institutions, making Xianlin a notable expansion point for the city’s art map. - At DEJI Art Museum’s main venue, the permanent digital exhibition An Era in Jinling presents a 110-meter interactive scroll of Nanjing. - The museum also shows Kusama’s 2008 oil painting Flower in Nothing Still About Still Lifes: Masterpieces from the World of Flowers Collection, which brings together 140 works by 109 artists. - Beeple’s museum solo exhibition is currently on view, and the museum remains open daily until midnight.

What’s next: - The Pumpkin installation will remain on long-term public view beside Yangshan Lake. - DEJI Art Museum says it will continue expanding across Nanjing and Jiangsu Province as part of a multi-venue network. - Additional venues are under development.

The bottom line: - Kusama’s largest bronze pumpkin now functions as both sculpture and place-making tool, anchoring DEJI Art Museum’s public-art push in a visible Nanjing landscape.

More information: DEJI Art Museum