(Sagua la Grande, December 8, 1902 - Paris, September 11, 1982) Wifredo Lam was the eighth child of a wealthy 84-year-old Chinese businessman from a non-European mother. In the early autumn of 1923 he left for Spain, where he lived for 14 years. Read the full biography
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(Sagua la Grande, December 8, 1902 - Paris, September 11, 1982) Wifredo Lam was the eighth child of a wealthy 84-year-old Chinese businessman from a non-European mother. In the early autumn of 1923 he left for Spain, where he lived for 14 years. In 1929 he married Eva Piris, with whom he had a son. In 1931, Eva and her son died of tuberculosis. In 1938 Lin met Pablo Picasso and became friends with the painters Joan Miro, Fernand Léger, Henri Matisse, Paul Eluard, Georges Braque... In 1941 he left Europe for Cuba with Andre Breton, who wanted to go to New York. But when he tried to find his homeland, he was detained for 40 days on a small island in Martinique. Against all odds, he meets Aimé Césaire and becomes friends. After ten years on the island, at the age of fifty, he moved permanently to Paris, where he died after spending some time in Italy. He spent long periods in Albissola Marina, sometimes alone, sometimes with his painter wife, sometimes with his numerous descendants. His guests are very personal. For Albissola Marina he also painted a painting for the mosaic of the famous Viale degli Artisti, considered the first non-white artist to receive official recognition in the history of Western art. He is considered, together with René Portocarrero, the greatest Cuban artist.