The storm in Japan swept the iconic statue into the sea

Tokyo – Experts are trying to determine whether it will be possible to rebuild the most famous Japanese work of modern art – the giant green-yellow pumpkin by the renowned artist Yayoi Kusama, which was severely damaged by a recent tropical storm. This was reported by the news site The Guardian.

The nearly two meters high and two and a half meters wide pumpkin had stood at the end of the pier on Naoshima Island since 1994. During that time, it weathered many adverse conditions, but it had no chance against the typhoon that hit this area, located over 650 kilometers west of Tokyo, on Monday.

Staff from the Benesse Art Site, which owns the work of the Japanese pop-art pioneer, helplessly watched as the surging waves loosened the pumpkin from its metal supports and swept it into the sea, where it floated like a fantastical sea creature.

The center usually removed the artwork when bad weather approached, but this time meteorologists did not expect the storm closing in on Japan to deteriorate so quickly. After the storm, most of the damaged sculpture was recovered from the sea, now broken into three main pieces.

"Smaller pieces have been lost at sea, but we have three large, main pieces that we have stored at our center while we are working with the Yayoi Kusama studio to decide what to do next,” said a spokesperson for the Benesse center.

Yayoi Kusama is 92 years old and has been living in a psychiatric hospital in Tokyo since the 1970s. Her avant-garde art, characterized by polka dots and infinity motifs, is exhibited worldwide, including the Tate Modern gallery in London, the Centre Pompidou in Paris, and the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden in Washington, D.C.

In 2017, a museum dedicated to the work of Yayoi Kusama created over six decades was opened in Tokyo, Japan.