Throughout her career Kusama has worked in a wide variety of mediums, including painting, collage, sculpture, performance art and environmental installations, most of which exhibit her thematic interest in psychedelic colors, repetition and pattern. A precursor of the pop art, minimalist and feminist art movements, Kusama influenced contemporaries such as Andy Warhol and Claes Oldenburg.

Kusama's work is in the collections of leading museums throughout the world, including the Museum of Modern Art, New York, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, Tate Modern, London, Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, Centre Pompidou, Paris and the National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo.

Major exhibitions of her work include Tate Modern, London, Whitney Museum, New York, Centre Pompidou, Paris, Museum of Modern Art, New York, Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo, Mori Art Museum, Tokyo and National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo.