Can a pattern make you happier? Yayoi Kusama thinks so. Of polka dots, her signature motif, the spot-obsessed Japanese artist wrote: “They scatter proliferating love in the universe and raise my ...

Tiny white dots on a black background read as arch but ladylike; multihued spots, especially if large or irregularly sized, have a more slapstick appeal. For the past century, polka dots have been ...