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Wifredo Lam:
When I Don’t Sleep, I Dream
November 10, 2025 – April 11, 2026
The Museum of Modern Art
The Museum of Modern Art announces Wifredo Lam: When I Don’t Sleep, I Dream, the most extensive retrospective devoted to the artist in the United States. Spanning the six decades of Lam’s prolific career, the exhibition will present more than 150 rarely seen artworks from the 1920s to the 1970s—including paintings, large-scale works on paper, collaborative drawings, illustrated books, prints, ceramics, and archival material—with key loans from the Estate of Wifredo Lam, Paris. The retrospective will reveal how Lam—an artist born in Cuba who spent most of his life in Spain, France, and Italy—came to embody the figure of the transnational artist in the 20th century and forged a unique visual style at the confluence of European modernity, African diasporic culture, and Caribbean traditions.
Organized by Christophe Cherix, The David Rockefeller Director, and Beverly Adams, The Estrellita Brodsky Curator of Latin American Art; with Damasia Lacroze, Curatorial Associate, Department of Painting and Sculpture, and Eva Caston, Curatorial Assistant, Department of Drawings and Prints.
Leadership support for the exhibition is provided by the Sandra and Tony Tamer Exhibition Fund, the Eyal and Marilyn Ofer Family Foundation, The International Council of The Museum of Modern Art, Sue and Edgar Wachenheim III, and the Dian Woodner Exhibition Endowment Fund.
Generous funding is provided by The Black Arts Council of The Museum of Modern Art.
Additional support is provided by Roberto S. and Elizabeth T. Goizueta.
The Bloomberg Connects digital experience is made possible through the support of Bloomberg Philanthropies.
Major support for the publication is provided by The Museum of Modern Art’s Research and Scholarly Publications endowment established through the generosity of The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the Edward John Noble Foundation, Mr. and Mrs. Perry R. Bass, and the National Endowment for the Humanities’ Challenge Grant Program. Generous funding is provided by the Jo Carole Lauder Publications Endowment Fund of The International Council of The Museum of Modern Art.
Press Kit
Images
Wifredo Lam. La guerra civil (The Spanish Civil War), 1937. Gouache on paper, 83 1/8 x 92 ⅞” (211 x 236 cm). Private collection, Miami. © Succession Wifredo Lam, ADAGP, Paris/ARS, New York 2025
Wifredo Lam. Title page from Fata Morgana. 1941. Illustration from an unbound proof of an illustrated book with letterpress text and seven line block illustrations with hand additions in colored pencil and annotations in ink, sheet (closed): 11 × 9″ (28 × 22.8 cm), sheet (open): 11 × 17 11/16″ (28 × 45 cm). The Museum of Modern Art, New York. © Succession Wifredo Lam, ADAGP, Paris/ARS, New York 2025
Wifredo Lam. La Jungla (The Jungle), 1942-43. Oil on paper on canvas, 94 1/4 x 90 1/2″ (239.4 x 229.9 cm). The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Inter-American Fund. © Succession Wifredo Lam, ADAGP, Paris/ARS, New York 2025
Wifredo Lam. Grande Composition, 1949. Oil and charcoal on paper mounted on canvas, 114 1/2 × 165 3/4″ (291 × 421 cm). The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Acquired in memory of Gustavo Cisneros through the generosity of the Sue and Edgar Wachenheim III Endowment Fund, Mimi Haas, Marlene Hess and James D. Zirin, The Judith Rothschild Foundation Contemporary Drawings Collection Gift (by exchange), Committee on Drawings and Prints Fund, The Werner H. Kramarsky Endowment Fund for Drawings, Marie-Josée and Henry R. Kravis, Sue and Edgar Wachenheim III, Emilio Ambasz, Anne Dias Griffin, Agnes Gund, Richard Roth, Tony Tamer, Candace King Weir, The Dian Woodner Acquisition Endowment Fund, the Frances Keech Fund, Joshua and Filipa Fink, Ann and Graham Gund, Alice and Tom Tisch, the Richard S. Zeisler Fund, Adriana Cisneros de Griffin, Glenn D. and Susan Lowry, and Marian S. Pillsbury. © Succession Wifredo Lam, ADAGP, Paris/ARS, New York 2025
Wifredo Lam. Les Invités, 1966. Oil and charcoal on canvas, 82 ⅝ x 98 ½ “ (210 x 250.2 cm). Collection Patricia Phelps de Cisneros, New York. © Succession Wifredo Lam, ADAGP, Paris/ARS, New York 2025
Cover of Wifredo Lam: When I Don’t Sleep, I Dream, published by The Museum of Modern Art, New York, 2025