Wifredo Lam

(Cuban, 1902–1982)

Wifredo Lam was an Afro-Cuban artist best known for his unique Surrealist aesthetic that combined European artistic movements with the imagery of his native country. “I responded always to the presence of factors that emanated from our history and our geography, tropical flowers, and black culture,” Lam once said. In one of his most famous paintings, The Jungle (1943), these various influences are melded together, onto a single large-scale canvas. Born Wifredo Oscar de la Concepción Lam y Castilla on December 8, 1902 in Sagua la Grande, Cuba, the painter moved to Madrid, Spain in 1923 to study with Fernando Álvarez de Sotomayor, who had been the teacher of famed Surrealist Salvador Dalí. Lam moved to Paris after seeing an exhibition of Pablo Picasso’s work in Spain. Having arrived in Paris, he introduced himself to Picasso who subsequently showed Lam his collection of primitive artworks. The two artists' interaction figured heavily in Lam’s work throughout the remainder of his career. He died on September 11, 1982 in Paris, France at the age of 79. Today, the artist’s works are held in the collections of the Tate Gallery in London, the Reina Sofia Museum in Madrid, The Museum of Modern Art in New York, and the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., among others.