Lam returned to paper for this monumental work, an image of liberation and empowerment. Dynamic diagonal lines and arrows connect the three main figures, whose faces reference African, Native American, and Oceanic art. Heavily diluted oil paint barely covers the traces of Lam’s charcoal lines, blurring the boundary between painting and drawing. With large swaths of kraft paper left bare, the brown hue of Lam’s characteristic support becomes integral to the figures in the composition. The scale and horizontality of this painting anticipate the murals he would complete in Havana and Caracas and his large-scale canvases in the 1960s.
Wifredo Lam: When I Don’t Sleep, I Dream, November 10, 2025–April 11, 2026
Gallery label from Wifredo Lam: When I Don’t Sleep, I Dream (en español) , November 10, 2025–April 11, 2026
Lam volvió al papel para esta obra monumental, una imagen de liberación y empoderamiento que marca un punto definitorio en su carrera. Líneas diagonales y flechas dinámicas conectan las tres figuras principales cuyos rostros remiten al arte africano, nativo americano y oceánico. La pintura al óleo diluida apenas cubre los trazos de sus líneas de carboncillo, disolviendo el límite entre pintura y dibujo. Amplias áreas de papel kraft permanecen al descubierto, haciendo que el tono marrón del soporte característico de Lam se integre a las figuras de la composición. La escala y la horizontalidad de esta pintura anticipan los murales que realizaría en La Habana y Caracas, así como sus grandes lienzos de la década de 1960.
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Wifredo Lam
Cuban, 1902–1982 37 works onlineWifredo Lam charted a pathbreaking trajectory in modern art and served as a reference for subsequent generations of artists working across the Caribbean, Africa, and the West.
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