Wifredo Lam(1902 — 1982)
Wifredo Lam
France, Cuba
6 min read
Wifredo Lam (1902-1982) was a Cuban painter and engraver, a major figure of modern art. Of mixed Afro-Cuban and Chinese heritage, he blended Surrealism, Cubism, and the Afro-Caribbean imagination — notably Santería — into a singular body of work embodied by his iconic painting The Jungle.
Frequently asked questions
Key Facts
- Born in 1902 in Sagua la Grande (Cuba), to a Chinese father and an Afro-Cuban mother.
- Settled in Paris in 1938, where he befriended Pablo Picasso, who supported him.
- Joined the Surrealist movement and collaborated with André Breton (illustrations for Fata Morgana, 1940-1941).
- Painted his masterpiece The Jungle in 1943, now held at the MoMA in New York.
- Died in 1982 in Paris, recognized as a pioneer of non-Western modern art.
Works & Achievements
His absolute masterpiece, populated with hybrid figures among the sugar cane. Held at the MoMA in New York, it is regarded as a manifesto of Afro-modern art.
A series of drawings accompanying the poem by André Breton, created during his exile. The collection was censored by the Vichy regime.
A large composition in which totemic figures and vegetation intertwine. It extends the dreamlike world of The Jungle.
A teeming canvas blending symbols of Santería with Cubist forms. It illustrates the synthesis of European avant-garde and Caribbean imagination.
A work in which the first hybrid plant-and-animal figures appear. It heralds the visual language of The Jungle.
A reinterpretation of a Christian theme through the lens of Afro-Cuban cults. It reflects the religious syncretism so dear to Lam.
Anecdotes
Before becoming a painter, Wifredo Lam nearly died as a child: he fell seriously ill and was nursed back to health by his godmother Mantonica Wilson, a priestess of *santería*. This woman, initiated into Afro-Cuban cults, left a deep mark on his imagination, which he would later draw upon through Caribbean deities and symbols.
In **1938**, Lam arrived in Paris carrying a letter of recommendation for **Picasso**. The Spanish master welcomed him like a brother, introduced him to avant-garde circles, and organized an exhibition for him. Picasso is said to have remarked that Lam had “blood in his veins,” admiring the power of his forms.
In **1941**, fleeing the Nazi advance, Lam boarded a ship in Marseille alongside the Surrealist poet **André Breton** and the anthropologist **Claude Lévi-Strauss**. During the crossing, he illustrated Breton's poem *Fata Morgana*, which had been banned by the Vichy regime.
Returning to Cuba in **1941** after eighteen years away, Lam rediscovered the lush nature and Afro-Cuban culture of his island. This shock inspired his masterpiece *The Jungle* (**1943**), a canvas peopled with half-human, half-plant figures that caused a scandal when it was exhibited in New York.
Lam's maternal grandfather had been an African slave deported to Cuba, while his father, **Lam Yam**, was an educated Chinese immigrant who lived to the age of 108. This Afro-Chinese heritage nourished his entire body of work, where the cultures of the world intersect.
Primary Sources
I wanted to paint the drama of my country, but by fully expressing the Black spirit, the beauty of the visual art of Black people. In this way I could act as a Trojan horse from which would emerge hallucinatory figures.
Lam's art springs forth where the feeling of nature meets that of the supernatural, in the light that bathes the West Indies.
This morning the daughter of the mountain holds on her lap an accordion of white bats — a collection adorned with Lam's drawings made during his exile.
Key Places
Birthplace of Wifredo Lam, in the province of Villa Clara. He grew up there in a mixed Afro-Chinese family, steeped in the traditions of Santería.
The capital where Lam studied painting at the San Alejandro Academy. He returned there in 1941 and rediscovered the Afro-Caribbean inspiration behind *The Jungle*.
Lam trained as a painter here from 1923 and stayed for nearly fifteen years. He sided with the Republicans during the civil war.
Lam met Picasso and the Surrealists here in 1938. He lived here for much of his post-war life and died here in 1982.
A stop during his exile in 1941, where Lam met the poet Aimé Césaire, the theorist of négritude. This encounter strengthened his quest for an Afro-Caribbean identity.
