Portrait of Yayoi Kusama
About this tour
A day that starts in the oldest streets of Amsterdam and ends inside an infinity room. From 12 September 2026 to 17 January 2027 the Stedelijk Museum presents the full retrospective of Yayoi Kusama, seven decades of work from her first paintings in 1950s Japan to pieces made in her Tokyo studio in her last years, including a newly created version of one of her Infinity Mirror Rooms and historic works never shown in Europe. Amsterdam is the final stop after Basel and Cologne, and the artist's death in August 2026 turned the exhibition into a farewell. The city earned this chapter. In the 1960s Kusama spent long periods in the Netherlands, close to the Dutch Nul movement, long before the rest of the world caught up with her.
The day
Meet the Storykeeper in the hotel lobby and walk into the Historic Center of Amsterdam, the medieval core where the story of Dutch tolerance begins. Around Dam Square stand the Royal Palace, once the city hall of the richest port in Europe, and the streets where merchants, refugees and dissenters of every faith learned to live side by side. Step into Ons' Lieve Heer op Solder, the church hidden in an attic from the time when Catholics were forbidden to worship in public, and into the quiet courtyard of the Begijnhof, where a community of lay women lived from the 14th century onwards.
Yayoi Kusama in her studio, New York, 1963
Narcissus Garden
Continue into the Jordaan, the working neighbourhood that became the most cinematic address in the city, along the three canals of the 17th century ring, Herengracht, Keizersgracht and Prinsengracht, a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2010. Cross the Negen Straatjes, nine cobbled lanes of small boutiques and galleries. Lunch in the Jordaan (not included).
In the afternoon, walk or take a tram to Museumplein for the Kusama retrospective at the Stedelijk. The Storykeeper follows the five bodies of work that explain her, the Infinity Nets, the Accumulations, the mirrored spheres of Narcissus Garden, the Pumpkins and the Infinity Mirror Rooms, and tells the story of a young Japanese woman in 1960s New York whose ideas were borrowed by better known men and who lived to see history catch up with her. Leave time at the end for the mirror room, without the Storykeeper, in silence. Return to the hotel on foot or by tram.
Infinity Mirror Room, Phalli's Field, 1965
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Inclusions
Tour Disclaimers: Please be aware that even after your booking is confirmed, your itinerary may be subject to changes based on availability and to ensure we deliver the best possible experience to our clients.