“Picasso found in Lam the only kind of confirmation he could care about — that of a man who had realized
himself by taking, in relation to Picasso, the very opposite path: who, starting from the primitive myth he
bore within him, and assimilating on his way the most learned disciplines of European art, had attained the
highest point of consciousness.”
— André Breton, 1941
Approximately 50 works (spanning from 1918 to 1978), including paintings, frescos, works on paper,
collage, and ceramics, will be presented. Following the finissage of Museum of Modern Art’s highly lauded
solo retrospective “Wifredo Lam: When I Don’t Sleep, I Dream”, the Galerie Gmurzynska exhibition will
include some important Lam works previously exhibited at the MoMA.
The exhibition will be accompanied by a 350-page scholarly volume with previously unpublished archival
materials and new research by Jérôme Neutres, Jacques Leenhardt, Fabrice Flahutez, and Dorota Dolega-
Ritter, and this is the first publication to take on the subject of their relationship. Lam and Picasso first met
in Paris in May 1938, and the encounter proved foundational for both artists, which subsequently
developed into a deep lifelong friendship of mutual respect. Picasso lauded Lam, saying “Lam, I think that
you have my blood in you, you must be one of my relations, a primo, a cousin.” (1938) and “My friend Lam.
I’ve seen your things. They’re very good! And I’m so glad I saw them. You know how much I love you”
(1945).
Between 1940 and 1946, Picasso and Lam regularly exhibited together at the Pierre Matisse Gallery, New
York, in the Fuller Building, the same premises now occupied by Galerie Gmurzynska where the Lam /
Picasso exhibition will take place. The last dedicated exclusive two-man exhibition related to Lam and
Picasso dates back to 1939 at the Perls Gallery in New York, and it was Lam’s first showing in America.
Picasso personally brought his friends Chagall, Giacometti, Le Corbusier, Léger, and Miró to Lam’s
foundational solo show at Galerie Pierre (Pierre Loeb) in Paris in 1939, and he introduced Lam to André
Breton, the Surrealist circle, and Michel Leiris. Picasso and Dora Maar held Lam’s entire oeuvre for safekeeping
during World War 2 when Lam returned to his native Cuba.
The exhibition includes from Lam a rare Étude pour La Jungle (1943) as well as other masterpieces from
Lam’s estate including part of his indigenous art collection, and from Picasso, two rare frescos from his
1918 honeymoon in Biarritz are exhibited as well as works engaging in his lifelong interest in African art
such as Animaux naturels (Arts Primitifs) from 1943, a total of six oil on canvas paintings.