MoMA's Wifredo Lam Exhibition Reclaims Radical Modernism
The Museum of Modern Art, New York, presents 'Wifredo Lam: When I Don’t Sleep, I Dream,' a major survey spanning six decades of the Cuban artist's career. Co-curated by Beverly Adams, the exhibition brings together over 130 works, including paintings, works on paper, and collaborative book projects. Lam, a transnational artist shaped by movement and exile, forged a visual language rooted in Afro-Caribbean thought and poetry. The show reexamines MoMA's own history with Lam—the museum acquired its first Lam in 1939 but never gave him a solo exhibition. Highlights include 'La jungla' (1942-43), a landmark painting that blends landscape, body, and colonial violence, and 'Grande Composition,' a large-scale work on paper unseen for decades. Lam's collaborations with poets like Aimé Césaire, André Breton, and Lydia Cabrera are featured. The exhibition runs from November 10, 2025, to April 11, 2026.
Key facts
- Exhibition 'Wifredo Lam: When I Don’t Sleep, I Dream' at MoMA, New York, from November 10, 2025, to April 11, 2026.
- Co-curated by Beverly Adams.
- Over 130 works spanning six decades.
- Lam's work shaped by movement, exile, poetry, and Afro-Caribbean thought.
- MoMA acquired its first Lam in 1939 but never held a solo exhibition until now.
- Highlights include 'La jungla' (1942-43) and 'Grande Composition' (late 1940s).
- Lam collaborated with poets Aimé Césaire, André Breton, Lydia Cabrera, and others.
- Lam described his painting as an 'act of decolonization.'
Entities
Artists
- Wifredo Lam
- Aimé Césaire
- André Breton
- Lydia Cabrera
- Édouard Glissant
- René Char
- Gherasim Luca
- Alejo Carpentier
- Federico García Lorca
Institutions
- The Museum of Modern Art
- Succession Wifredo Lam
- ADAGP
- ARS
- Colección Patricia Phelps de Cisneros
Locations
- New York
- United States
- Cuba
- Havana
- Spain
- Marseille
- Paris