Solitude and symbolism: The emotional world of Yoshitomo Nara at Hayward Gallery
Running from 10th of June to 31st of August 2025, the Yoshitomo Nara exhibition at the Hayward Gallery brings together more than 150 works spanning drawings, paintings, sculptures, installations, and ceramics. Curator Yung Ma charts four decades of the artist’s creative evolution, presenting the largest European retrospective of one of Japan’s most celebrated artists. The exhibition also features several large-scale paintings from private collections that have rarely been seen publicly, offering a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to experience them in person.
Peering through the installation at the centre of the first room, Nara immediately transports the viewer into his intimate world. Titled My Drawing Room 2008, Bedroom Included (2008), the mixed-media installation features a house-like structure with pale blue walls, drawings on cardboard and paper scattered across the floor, and tiny figurines lining each ledge. This immersive space offers a glimpse into Nara’s private universe that he began constructing from a young age. “Everything I make comes from the innermost part of myself. I don’t see the work as a self-portrait; it is more like a reflection or a version of myself. I hope that everyone who looks at my work will similarly see themselves or a part of themselves through my work,” the artist says.
Nara’s creations often embody a deep sense of isolation and melancholy, rooted in his childhood experiences. With a ten-year age gap between him and his older brothers, and parents often absent due to work, Nara spent much of his early life feeling alone. This emotional solitude manifests in his works through themes of anguish, vulnerability, and quiet introspection. Yet these emotions are not confined to the past, Nara expresses them as recurring waves, flowing through both his own life and those of his viewers.
After graduating from Aichi University of the Arts in 1987, Nara moved to Germany to pursue a six-year artistic apprenticeship at the Staatliche Kunstakademie in Düsseldorf. It was during this time that he experienced a similar isolation to his childhood because he could not speak German. Art again became his refuge and it was during the 1990s that he honed his distinctive style; most notably, his iconic figures with large, piercing eyes, which came to symbolize raw emotional expression. His popularity grew steadily, culminating in 1999 with Knife Behind Back (2000), a seven-by-six-foot painting that set a new global auction record, selling for US$24.9 million at Sotheby’s Hong Kong.
What is distinctive about Knife Behind Back are the child’s light green eyes that unsettle the viewer, expressing both sorrow and anger. Nara uses a similar green in the background of the 20th edition of his 2001 print, Girl in a Box, which is currently on sale with Artscapy. This print depicts a young girl with a large head who looks both upset and vengeful, sitting in a small, cardboard box, with a light green background. It is possible that this green comes from the profound impact that the Japanese forest had on Nara. Further expanding on this relationship, Nara stated “I was born in the countryside so the forest was always there as an important part of my life but I wasn’t really conscious of its existence- kind of like the Big Ben, you don’t constantly think about it in London but then when you’re abroad you’re reminded of how great it is”. 
This rare signed print originates from an important period in Nara’s life. It was when this Japanese artist became globally recognised but while the artist was still experimenting with his signature style. It was these works that made Nara famous. Nara’s popularity in the art market over the years goes up and down with his characteristic figures being both a unique selling point and often reaching oversaturation in the market. In March of this year, his 2005 canvas Cosmic Eyes (in the Milky Lake) fetched US $11.5 m at Sotheby’s London leading the evening sale and showing that eight-figure demand persists. With the London exhibition designed as an expanded version of a touring exhibition previously put on at the Guggenheim in Bilbao (his first Spanish retrospective) and Museum Frieder Burda in Baden-Baden, it is likely that Nara’s works are about to be renewed with a high demand.
Being shown for the first time in Europe is Nara’s Miss Forest, A Pedestal (2023) made from urethane on fibre-reinforced plastic - an unusual and interesting material. The pure white sculpture sits in between large, colourful canvases, with the striking contrast pulling the audience to analyse its clay-like texture. The large head of Nara’s recurring character, the ‘moriko’ or forest child also acts as a pedestal for a crown of identical dogs - who are all together but have their eyes closed so are alike but alone. Nara uses the recurring motifs of his many characters who represent parts of his own identity either through their fascination with the forest or their depiction of solitude. 
While this specific context and background to his works helps understand the artist and his journey, all of these emotions are easily communicated through his brush strokes. There is something very universal about Nara’s experience, which makes them even more powerful.
