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# A New-Wave 'Little Mermaid' Illustrated by Yayoi Kusama
- URL: https://hyperallergic.com/a-new-wave-little-mermaid-illustrated-by-yayoi-kusama/
- Published: 2016-08-23T14:34:32.000Z
- Updated: 2025-11-24T16:13:49.000Z
- Description: If you most vividly remember The Little Mermaid as told by Disney, with the mermaid princess and her prince sailing off together beneath a rainbow, now is the time to revisit Hans Christian Andersen's original fairy tale, which is much, much darker.
- Author: Claire Voon
- Tags: In Brief, Hans Christian Andersen, Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Yayoi Kusama, #wp, #wp-post, #image-position-hidden, #Import 2025-11-24 07:17 (2016, 2017, part 1)

![kusama1](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2016/08/kusama1.jpg)

From ‘The Little Mermaid by Hans Christian Andersen & Yayoi Kusama: A Fairy Tale of Infinity and Love Forever,’ published by the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art in Denmark (all photos courtesy Louisiana Museum unless otherwise noted)

If you most vividly remember *The Little Mermaid* as told by Disney, with the mermaid princess and her prince sailing off together beneath a rainbow, now is the time to revisit Hans Christian Andersen’s original fairy tale, which is much, much darker. The Louisiana Museum of Modern Art in Denmark has published a new edition of the 179-year-old story, featuring fittingly bizarre illustrations by [Yayoi Kusama](http://hyperallergic.com/54328/the-long-strange-art-and-life-of-yayoi-kusama/). [*The Little Mermaid by Hans Christian Andersen & Yayoi Kusama: A Fairy Tale of Infinity and Love Forever*](https://www.amazon.com/Little-Mermaid-Christian-Andersen-Kusama/dp/8792877591/hyperallergic-20?ref=hyperallergic.com) follows [*In Infinity*](https://en.louisiana.dk/exhibition/yayoi-kusama?ref=hyperallergic.com), the Japanese artist’s recent exhibition at the museum, which closed in January and marked her first Scandinavian retrospective.

The 96-page book, which is tall and perfect for storytelling time, features, of course, polka-dots aplenty to accompany Andersen’s text. Despite the Danish writer’s color-filled descriptions — from the absolute blueness of the sea to red- and violet-tinged sunsets — the featured images are culled from Kusama’s black-and-white marker series of drawings *Love Forever* (2004–07) series and some new illustrations in a similar vein. Her bold, undulating lines, however, bring Andersen’s narrative to life, covering pages with waving and wriggling patterns; fanciful plants suggestive of wondrous aquatic wildlife; motifs resembling tentacles and waves; and an abundance of enigmatic, watchful eyes. The repetition of shapes and doodled figures forms a fluid stream of images around Andersen’s prose, giving it new and exciting energy. The images and text build a world that might just be as fantastic and mysterious as the one that the little mermaid saw when she ascended from the depths of the sea for the first time.

![SK_Little_Mermaid_front](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2016/08/sk_little_mermaid_front.jpg)

Cover of ‘The Little Mermaid by Hans Christian Andersen & Yayoi Kusama: A Fairy Tale of Infinity and Love Forever,’ published by the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art in Denmark

![kusama5](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2016/08/kusama5.jpg)

‘The Little Mermaid by Hans Christian Andersen & Yayoi Kusama: A Fairy Tale of Infinity and Love Forever,’ published by the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art in Denmark (photo by the author for Hyperallergic)

![kusama4](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2016/08/kusama4.jpg)

‘The Little Mermaid by Hans Christian Andersen & Yayoi Kusama: A Fairy Tale of Infinity and Love Forever,’ published by the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art in Denmark (photo by the author for Hyperallergic)

![kusama6](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2016/08/kusama6.jpg)

From ‘The Little Mermaid by Hans Christian Andersen & Yayoi Kusama: A Fairy Tale of Infinity and Love Forever,’ published by the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art in Denmark

![kusama2](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2016/08/kusama2.jpg)

Yayoi Kusama, “Women in the Midnight” (2005), now in ‘The Little Mermaid by Hans Christian Andersen & Yayoi Kusama: A Fairy Tale of Infinity and Love Forever’

![kusama9](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2016/08/kusama9.jpg)

Yayoi Kusama, “Flowering New York \[OPRT\]” (2005), now in ‘The Little Mermaid by Hans Christian Andersen & Yayoi Kusama: A Fairy Tale of Infinity and Love Forever’

![kusama3](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2016/08/kusama3.jpg)

Yayoi Kusama, “Woman’s World \[OEWST\]” (2005), now in ‘The Little Mermaid by Hans Christian Andersen & Yayoi Kusama: A Fairy Tale of Infinity and Love Forever’

![kusama7](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2016/08/kusama7.jpg)

From ‘The Little Mermaid by Hans Christian Andersen & Yayoi Kusama: A Fairy Tale of Infinity and Love Forever’

![kusama10](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2016/08/kusama10.jpg)

Yayoi Kusama, “Guidepost to Youth \[HOTWOX\]” (2007), now in ‘The Little Mermaid by Hans Christian Andersen & Yayoi Kusama: A Fairy Tale of Infinity and Love Forever’

![kusama8](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2016/08/kusama8.jpg)

Yayoi Kusama, “Love Forever \[OPXTWE\]” (2005), now in ‘The Little Mermaid by Hans Christian Andersen & Yayoi Kusama: A Fairy Tale of Infinity and Love Forever’

![F:/mosaic/share/workareaprepost3036](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2016/08/kusama_mermaid-portrait-copy-3.jpg)

Yayoi Kusama with her illustrated version of ‘The Little Mermaid’ by Hans Christian Andersen

[The Little Mermaid by Hans Christian Andersen & Yayoi Kusama: A Fairy Tale of Infinity and Love Forever](https://www.amazon.com/Little-Mermaid-Christian-Andersen-Kusama/dp/8792877591/hyperallergic-20?ref=hyperallergic.com) *is available through Amazon.*