What art movements was the painter Wifredo Lam associated with?
The painter Wifredo Lam developed close ties to Picasso, members of the surrealist movement and artists in the CoBrA group.
Wifredo Lam spent fourteen years in Spain in a period that formed a crucial stage in the Cuban painter’s life. Indeed, it was in Madrid that he discovered the ideas and foundations of modern art, studying the great masters of Spanish painting, notably Velázquez and Goya. In 1931, Lam’s wife and their son died of tuberculosis. The artist’s profound despair at the loss inspired him to create many paintings of mothers and children. The year 1947 represented an important artistic juncture for Lam, whose style evolved and became increasingly marked by the influence of Oceanic art and African art, as well as a more pronounced presence of esoteric elements. Throughout the 1950s, the Cuban painter Wifredo Lam worked with members of the CoBrA movement and the Italian avant-garde, also joining a variety of post-war art movements such as the Phases movement and the international Situationist movement.
Please visit the painter Wifredo Lam’s dedicated page and the pages on Surrealism and the CoBrA group to learn more about these art movements.
