Wifredo Lam was Cuban artist best known for his unique Surrealist aesthetic that combined European artistic movements with the imagery of his native country.
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 Alvarez de Sotomayor, who had also taught the noted Surrealist Salvador Dalí. Influenced by Joaquin Torres-García and Henri Matisse early in his life, Lam later moved to Paris after seeing an exhibition of Pablo Picasso’s works while it was traveling through Spain. Picasso would introduce Lam to so-called Primitive Art, which would figure heavily into the paintings he made during the 1930s and after. Upon returning to Cuba, the artist infused his work with the mystical and religious imagery of his homeland: “I responded always to the presence of factors that emanated from our history and our geography, tropical flowers, and black culture,” Lam had said.
He died September 11, 1982 in Paris, France at the age of 79.
Wifredo LAM, Le Feu Vert, 1974 - La Siempre Habana, Miami, FL
Wilfredo Lam: Nouveau Nouveau Monde - galerie gmurzynska, Zurich
The Drawings of Wifredo Lam: 1940-1955. From the personal collection of Juan Castillo Vázquez, Havana, Cuba, Lehigh University Art Galleries, Zoellner Arts Center, Bethlehem, PA
Wifredo Lam - Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid
The EY Exhibition Wifredo Lam - Tate Modern, London
Wifredo Lam and the poets - Millennium Museum, Beijing
Wifredo Lam - Centre Pompidou - Musée National d'Art Moderne, Paris
Wifredo Lam: O Espírito Da Criação - Museu Oscar Niemeyer, Curitiba
Fire Tongues - Galerie Gmurzynska - Zug, Zug
Fire Tongues - Galerie Gmurzynska - St. Moritz, St. Moritz
Voyages entre Caraïbes et avant-gardes de Wifredo Lam - Musée des Beaux-Arts de Nantes, Nantes
Giro del mondo in 80 anni - Galleria Biasutti & Biasutti Arte Moderna e Contemporanea, Turin
Wifredo Lam - Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Monterrey MARCO, Monterrey, NL
Wilfredo Lam - Molaa Museum of Latin American Art, Long Beach, CA
Wifredo Lam in North America - MAM - Miami Art Museum, Miami, FL
Wifredo Lam in North America - Haggerty Museum of Art - Marquette University, Milwaukee, WI
Wifredo Lam. An Intimate Cartography - The National Museum of Art of Romania, Bucharest
Wifredo Lam - Orichas - Galerie Thessa Herold, Paris
20 Works - Tresart, Coral Gables (Miami), FL
Wifredo Lam: Cartografía íntima - Instituto Cervantes - Berlin, Berlin
Wifredo Lam: Los años decisivos 1939 - 1947 - Centro Cultural Metropolitano, Quito
Wilfredo Lam - Galerie Boulakia, Paris
L'oiseau du possible - Galerie Boulakia, Paris
Wilfredo Lam - Círculo de Bellas Artes de Tenerife, Santa Cruz de Tenerife
The Changing Image - Centennial Exhibition - Yokohama Museum of Art, Nishi-ku, Yokohama
Wifredo Lam - Drawings: Interlude Marseille - Latin American Masters, Beverly Hills, CA
The Solo Exhibition of Wifredo Lam’s - Lin & Lin Gallery, Taipei
Wilfredo Lam: Pasión y magia sobre el papel - MNBA - Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes Santiago Chile, Santiago
Wilfredo Lam – grafik - Nationalmuseum, Stockholm
Wifredo Lam - Gana Art Gallery, Seoul
Wifredo Lam - Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid
Wilfredo Lam - Kunstverein in Hamburg, Hamburg
Wifredo Lam - K20 Grabbeplatz, Dusseldorf
Presencia de Cuba. Tres obras de Wifredo Lam - Museo Tamayo, Mexico City
Wifredo Lam - Museo Nacional de Artes Visuales, Montevideo
Wifredo Lam: retrospective - Henie Onstad Art Centre, Høvikodden
Wilfredo Lam - Gimpel Fils, London
Wifredo Lam. Hjärtats snår, vapen, frukter - Moderna Museet, Stockholm
Wilfredo Lam - Institute of Contemporary Arts, London
Wifredo Lam: Gouaches - Arts Club of Chicago, Chicago, IL
Wifredo Lam - Galerie Pierre, Paris