Wifredo Lam

Wifredo Lam was an internationally renowned Cuban painter whose work fused Western modernism with Afro-Cuban and Caribbean symbolism. Born to a Chinese father and a mother of African and Spanish descent, he grew up in a richly syncretic environment shaped by Catholicism, ancestor worship, and African traditions. After studying in Spain, where he absorbed influences from Velázquez, Goya, and African art, he moved to Paris in 1938, met Picasso, and joined the Surrealist movement, working closely with figures such as André Breton and Aimé Césaire. 

Lam’s art combines surrealist elements—organic forms, metamorphoses, unexpected associations—with Afro-Cuban imagery, creating a unique visual language that transcends cultural and artistic boundaries. His iconic painting La Jungla (1943, MoMA, New York) epitomizes this synthesis. The two drawings presented here, from his highly sought-after 1950s period, reveal his extraordinary assurance of line. They concentrate the recurring motifs of his oeuvre and testify to his imagination, his mastery of form, and his exceptional talent as a draftsman.