The Museum of Modern Art in New York has opened a groundbreaking retrospective dedicated to Cuban-born painter Wifredo Lam, marking the artist's first major solo exhibition in the United States. Curated by Christophe Cherix and Beverly Adams, alongside Damasia Lacroze and Eva Caston, the comprehensive show features approximately 130 works that span Lam's entire career. The exhibition includes rarely seen paintings and drawings that demonstrate the artist's deep engagement with Afro-Caribbean traditions, particularly the Lucumí religion, aspects of his work that remain lesser-known outside the Caribbean region.

Among the exhibition's highlights is a newly acquired masterpiece from MoMA's collection, "Grande Composition" (Large Composition) from 1949, which is making its public debut after spending years in a private collection abroad. Co-curator Christophe Cherix successfully convinced the collector to part with the significant work, which has now permanently joined MoMA's holdings. This acquisition represents a major addition to the museum's collection of Surrealist works.

While Lam gained recognition during his lifetime as a cornerstone figure of the Surrealist movement, developing friendships with influential artists like André Breton and Pablo Picasso during his time in France, his work beyond Europe remains underappreciated. The artist left Europe in 1941, returning to Cuba where he created some of his most important pieces. The MoMA retrospective aims to address this gap in understanding by presenting a complete picture of Lam's artistic evolution.

The exhibition traces Lam's artistic development from his early works created in Spain, where he completed art school, through his mature period in Cuba and beyond. Notable pieces include "La Guerra Civil" (The Spanish Civil War) from 1937, which responds to the horrors of that conflict, and "Fata Morgana" from 1941, produced as an illustration for a book by André Breton. The show's centerpiece is "La jungla" (The Jungle) from 1942-43, widely regarded as Lam's masterpiece, created upon his return to Cuba in 1941.

"La jungla" exemplifies Lam's unique artistic vision, depicting a group of beings situated amid sugarcane with faces reminiscent of African masks, imagery that frequently appeared in his work. The painting demonstrates how Lam seamlessly blended European Surrealist techniques with his Afro-Caribbean heritage, creating a distinctive visual language that set him apart from his contemporaries.

The retrospective continues chronologically through Lam's career, showcasing works like "Harpe astrale" (Astral Harp) from 1944, which features the artist's characteristic dazzling colors and dense foliage settings. The painting's title potentially alludes to an instrument played by an angel, reflecting the spiritual dimensions often present in Lam's work. During the 1940s, Lam continued to develop his signature style of depicting mysterious beings in lush, tropical environments.

The exhibition also explores Lam's evolution into abstraction during the 1950s, including an untitled work from 1958 that contains no obvious figurative elements. However, as the MoMA show argues, these abstract compositions remain rooted in Lam's Afro-Caribbean perspective, subtly alluding to the Cuban landscape and his cultural heritage. This period demonstrates the artist's ability to maintain his unique voice even as he embraced new artistic approaches.

Recurring motifs throughout Lam's oeuvre are highlighted in the exhibition, including the horse-like figure known as a "femme-cheval" (horse-woman), which appears in works like "Les Invités" from 1966. These hybrid beings reflect Lam's frequent exploration of the boundary between humanity and other animals, a theme that connects to both Surrealist interests and African spiritual traditions.

The retrospective concludes with later works such as "Les Abalochas dansent pour Dhambala, dieu de l'unité" (The Abalochas Dance for Dhambala, the God of Unity) from 1970. This painting references Damballa, a deity that appears throughout traditions of the African diaspora, including Vodun, demonstrating how Lam maintained his connection to Afro-Caribbean spiritual practices throughout his career. The work exemplifies the artist's lifelong commitment to representing and celebrating his cultural heritage through his art, making this retrospective not just an artistic survey but also an important cultural statement about the contributions of Caribbean artists to modern art history.