© Denise Colomb
"I always respond to the influences of our history and geography, tropical flowers and black culture."
A Cuban painter of international renown, Wifredo Lam is the primogenitor of a hybrid art combining Western modernism and Afro-Caribbean symbols. He came into contact with all the avant-garde movements of his time - cubism, surrealism, CoBrA - that called for freedom, giving access to the unconscious or exploring the marvellous through graphic automatism. But Lam also tackles worldly problems, pursuing the same struggle as his friend, Aimé Césaire: "To paint the drama of his country, the cause and the spirit of blacks". He thus invented a specific language, unique and original, to "defend the dignity of life" and "to salute Liberty".