Wifredo Lam

Born in Sagua la Grande, Cuba, on 8 December 1902, Wifredo Lam was the son of a Chinese immigrant father and a mother of mixed African and Spanish descent. He studied at the Academy of San Alejandro in Havana before moving to Spain in 1923 thanks to a scholarship. Although he initially intended to continue on to Paris, he remained in Spain for fourteen years, a decisive period in his artistic development. There, he refined his technique under Fernando Álvarez de Sotomayor and became increasingly interested in the European avant-garde. During the 1930s he travelled frequently to Paris, where he met artists such as Pablo Picasso, Georges Braque and Fernand Léger, as well as leading figures of Surrealism, all of whom strongly influenced his style.

Lam’s art combines Surrealist imagery with references to African, Oceanic and indigenous traditions, reflecting both his cultural heritage and his interest in spiritual and ritual symbolism. His paintings are known for their exuberance, powerful forms and dreamlike atmosphere, often blending abstraction with Cubist influences. After returning to Cuba in 1941, he sought to express more forcefully the Afro-Cuban identity and spirituality of his homeland. His masterpiece, La Jungla (1943), inspired by Afro-Cuban myths and rituals, intertwines sugar cane, animals and human figures in a symbolic vision of Afro-Cuban spirituality. Critic Alain Jouffroy described it as “the first plastic manifesto of the Third World.”