Born on December 8, 1902, Sagua la Grande, Las Villas and died in Paris, September 12, 1982.

He was financially aided by his natal council city to enter San Alejandro in 1921. In 1923 his pension was larger and he entered the Fine Arts Academy of San Fernando in Madrid, and later on, in Barcelona.

He settled in Paris when the Republic fell down and met Picasso, who introduces him to Andrés Bretón, Marx Ernst and Victor Brauner; consolidating himself to the surrealist movement.

Lam and Picasso

In 1939, Pierre Loeb organized in Paris the Lam`s first solo exhibition. In this year, November 13, Gouaches from Lam and Picasso´s drawings are exhibited at Pearls Gallery in New York. In 1940, when the nazi occupation arrived to France, Lam left Paris, entrusting his works to his friend Picasso.

During the nazi military control in France on 1941, he returned to The Antillas with Bretón, Levi Strauss and other artists and intellectuals. In 1945, travelled to Haiti, Martinique, France, Venezuela, Sweden, Italy, Switzerland and United States.

His first exhibition in New York took place at Pierre Matisse Gallery, in 1942.

In 1958 Lam became member of Graham Foundation for Advanced Study in the Fine Arts of Chicago. He traveled again to Europe and settled in Paris.

In 1963, Lam came to Cuba to attend an engrave exhibition, sponsored by the National Council of Culture, exhibiting also at National Fine Arts Museum in 1996 and collaborated with Islas Magazine at Las Villas Central University. Furthermore, he attended the 1968 Havana Cultural Congress.

His art work is currently present at major European and American museums. Among 1980 and 1982, he temporary lived in Cuba. In 1981, the Council State of the Cuban Republic conferred him the Felix Varela Order for his relevant contribution to national culture.



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