In 2015 the Cuban painter Wifredo Lam (1902–82) was the subject of major surveys in London, Paris and Madrid, but only now is a full retrospective being held in the United States. The wait has been worthwhile: this show in New York covers the sweep of his career, bringing together some 150 paintings, large-scale drawings and ceramics to demonstrate what made him such a singular figure (10 November–11 April 2026). The centrepiece of the show is The Jungle (1942–43), which MoMA acquired two years after it was completed: a dense, lively painting in blue and green, it is full of slender figures that resemble humans, animals and vegetation, often at the same time. Cubist and Surrealist influences are in full evidence throughout the exhibition, though Lam was not so much an acolyte as a peer of these movements’ best-known practitioners: he collaborated with Picasso and Aimé Césaire and made a series of drawings for André Breton’s poetry book Fata Morgana (1941), which are on display here.
Find out more from MoMA’s website.
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