MoMA's Wifredo Lam Exhibit Closing Soon

This episode of All Of It on WNYC features a deep dive into the MoMA exhibit 'Wifredo Lam: When I Don't Sleep, I Dream,' which closes on April 11th. Host Alison Stewart interviews co-curators Christophe Chiriques and Beverly Adams, exploring Lam’s groundbreaking career as a transnational artist of Cuban, Chinese, and African descent. The exhibit traces his journey from Madrid and Paris—where he worked alongside Picasso and Miro—to his return to Cuba, highlighting his unique fusion of Afro-Caribbean spirituality, surrealism, and abstraction. A central theme is Lam’s use of humble materials like brown wrapping paper, especially in his monumental work 'The Jungle,' which he painted during wartime scarcity and later revisited throughout his career. The curators discuss how Lam’s work was historically marginalized by MoMA’s evolving modernist narrative, only to be recentered in this landmark exhibition. They also reflect on Lam’s post-war transformation, influenced by witnessing the devastation of Europe and the commodification of African art, leading to darker, more theatrical later works. The episode underscores Lam’s enduring legacy as an artist who used his practice to reclaim cultural identity and spiritual depth.