Yayoi Kusama's list of achievements just keeps growing. At the age of 96, the Japanese talent has proven a pioneer and an icon many times over across her eight decades of making art, and now she has breaking an Australian record to her name as well. Thanks to the exhibition that shares her moniker, which has been on display at Melbourne's NGV International since December 2024, Kusama can now claim the nation's highest-attended ticketed exhibition ever. This news confirms what Aussies have long known: we're dotty for the creative genius who uses spots aplenty in her work, plus pumpkins, tentacles and flowers — and for an art figure who knows how to get audiences losing themselves in a gallery via her infinity rooms. Since Yayoi Kusama opened on Sunday, December 15, 2024, it has welcomed more than 480,000 people through the door. That number still has time to go up, too, given that the exhibition runs until Monday, April 21, 2025. That it's open from 8am–6pm till Wednesday, April 16, then will operate from 8am–midnight daily between Thursday, April 17–Monday, April 21, will assist. To put that huge attendance in context, Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan compared it to one of Melbourne's best-known venues. "This record-breaking exhibition has brought five MCGs worth of visitors to the heart of Melbourne — that's great for local jobs, great for local businesses and great for families looking for something to do these holidays," Allan said. "We're truly overwhelmed by how enthusiastically Victorians and visitors alike have embraced this exhibition — and connected so strongly with Kusama's work and life story. This milestone is a testament to the enduring impact of Kusama's work and the growing appeal of contemporary art in Australia," added NGV Director Tony Ellwood AM. This celebration of Kusama was already in the history books for giving Australia its largest-ever retrospective dedicated to the artist. In terms of tickets sold, Yayoi Kusama takes the record from another Victorian exhibition, Van Gogh and the Seasons, which displayed in 2017 and saw 462,262 people head along. The National Gallery of Victoria's spectacular tribute to Kusama includes the Japanese icon's brand-new Infinity Mirrored Room–My Heart is Filled to the Brim with Sparkling Light among its ten immersive installations, breaking the world record for the number of such pieces by the artist assembled in one spot as well. In total, there's 200 pieces on display, taking over the St Kilda Road gallery's entire ground floor with a childhood-to-now survey of its subject's creative output. Kusama's five-metre-tall dot-covered Dancing Pumpkin sculpture in NGV International's Federation Court, a new version of Narcissus Garden, the yellow-and-black spheres of Dots Obsession, the all-ages-friendly The Obliteration Room, participatory floral piece Flower Obsession, the mirror-heavy Chandelier of Grief, gourds aplenty in The Spirits of the Pumpkins Descended into the Heavens: they're all part of the exhibition. Across the eight decades of art on offer, some pieces have never been seen Down Under until now. Some are sourced from private collections, and others from Kusama's own personal stash. Overall, Yayoi Kusama steps through the artist's work via a thematic chronology. Her output in her hometown of Matsumoto from the late 30s–50s; the results of relocating to America in 1957; archival materials covering her performances and activities in her studios, especially with a political charge, in the 60s and 70s; plenty from the past four decades: they all appear. Yayoi Kusama displays at NGV International, St Kilda Road, Melbourne until Monday, April 21, 2025 — including from 8am–6pm between Saturday, April 5–Wednesday, April 16, and from 8am–midnight between Thursday, April 17–Monday, April 21. NGV Friday Nights: Yayoi Kusama runs each Friday until Friday, April 18, 2025. Head to the NGV website for more details and tickets. Images: Visitors and artworks in the Yayoi Kusama exhibition at NGV International, Melbourne until 21 April 2025. © YAYOI KUSAMA. Photos: Danielle Castano, Sean Fennessy, Tobias Titz and Kate Shannassy.