Large and small dots and net patterns repeated innumerably inside the pumpkin. 



Expressing a strong contrast between green and black, this work is the size of No. 80 (112x125.5cm) 'Pumpkin' (OTRSSA, 2014) by Yayoi Kusama (93), a world-renowned contemporary artist. the biggest



Its size also set the auction price at an all-time high.



At the Seoul Auction Hong Kong auction held on the 29th, Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama's green 'Pumpkin' sold for 7.6 billion won (including purchase fee), the highest price among domestic auction works this year. 



Previously, Kusama's No. 50 size yellow 'Pumpkin' (1981) was sold for 5.45 billion won at the Seoul Auction 'Winter Sale' auction last November. 



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▲ Yayoi Kusama, Pumpkin (OTRSSA, 1981)


This work is known to be highly scarce because it is an early work that Kusama drew at the time he started working on the 'Pumpkin' series. 



After the auction, the yellow 'Pumpkin' won two titles: 'the highest price among Kusama's works traded at a domestic auction' and 'the highest price among all works traded at a domestic auction in 2021'. 



This time, the green 'Pumpkin' took over the title intact. 



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▲ Yayoi Kusama, Pumpkin (OTRSSA, 2014)


With this, the green 'Pumpkin', the size of No. 80, became the highest bid for a domestic auction this year, and at the same time, it became Kusama's most expensive 'Pumpkin' sold at a domestic art auction. 



Originally, the minimum estimated price for this work was 8 billion won, but it is known that the actual winning bid fell short of this. 



Meanwhile, Seoul Auction's Hong Kong auction, which resumed after two and a half years due to the novel coronavirus infection (Corona 19), was conducted by connecting the Gangnam Center and the bidding counter in Hong Kong, and recorded a successful bid rate of 65% and a total of about 12.5 billion won. 



In this auction, as for works by Korean artists, Lee Ufan's No. 150 size 'Dialogue' sold for 1.3 billion won, Yoo Yeonguk's 'Work' sold for 400 million won, and Lee Bae's 'Brush' sold for 140 million won, respectively. 


Who is Yayoi Kusama, a world-renowned contemporary art master?

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Born in Japan in 1929, Yayoi Kusama was physically abused by her parents and suffered from obsessive-compulsive disorder and hallucinations since childhood. 



His only comfort was art. 



Kusama, who is said to have hallucinated from his mother's red floral tablecloth in his childhood, has poured out images in his head as he repeatedly expresses certain patterns or elements from then on.



He headed to the United States without hesitation with a passion for art and a purpose and will to be recognized and successful as an artist, but at the time, he was turned away from the art world, which only revolved around Western male artists. 



Nevertheless, he continued his creative activities with a passion for art, and he was invited to the Venice Biennale in 1993 as a representative Japanese artist. 



Since then, Yayoi Kusama has finally been recognized as an artist loved by the world, and even now, at the age of 93, he continues to put out lively works that catch everyone's eyes. 



He liked to draw water droplets or nets as motifs, and embodies the themes of obsessive-compulsive disorder and illusion in various ways of expression, and put his inner world and growth process into his works. 



Among them, the 'Pumpkin' series is a work in which the artist who especially loved pumpkins embodies the desire for hope in life with small and large dots. 



(Photo = courtesy of Seoul Auction, photo from the movie 'Yayoi Kusama: Infinite World')