MIAMI, FLA.- As Miami Art Week unfolds, Latin Art Core is presenting a major showcase at Art Miami that places Cuban modernism—particularly the legacy of Wifredo Lam—at center stage. The presentation comes at a moment of renewed global attention for Lam, whose sweeping retrospective “Wifredo Lam: When I Don’t Sleep, I Dream” opened at the Museum of Modern Art in New York on November 10, 2025, and continues to draw international audiences.

For Israel Moleiro, founder of Latin Art Core, the timing could not be more fitting. Lam’s work, he says, embodies the depth and distinctiveness of Latin American Surrealism, a movement he considers “one of the most compelling and transformative contributions to modern art.”


Wifredo Lam, Untitled 1973. Oil on canvas, 20 x 27.

Unlike the European Surrealists who inspired them, Moleiro explains, Latin American artists do not merely adopt Surrealism as a stylistic extension. “Latin American artists use its language to explore hybrid identities shaped by Indigenous, African, and European traditions, as well as by the long shadow of colonialism,” he says. In that framework, the dreamlike and irrational are never escapist gestures; they become tools for exposing submerged histories, cultural memories, and lived contradictions.


Wifredo Lam, Untitled 1973. Oil on Canvas, 24 x 20 in.

Lam—who fuses Afro-Cuban spirituality with avant-garde experimentation—stands as one of the clearest examples. His early relationship with MoMA began in 1939 with the acquisition of Mother and Child, but it is his iconic 1943 work The Jungle—painted after returning to Cuba—that solidifies his influence. Its hybrid figures, vegetal forms, and symbolic density mark a turning point in Caribbean modernism and position Lam as a defining voice in the Surrealist reimagining of the Americas.


Wifredo Lam, Composition, 1975. Oil on Canvas, 28 x 39 in.

Moleiro situates Lam within a wider constellation that includes Remedios Varo, Leonora Carrington, and Roberto Matta, each contributing metaphysical landscapes and ritual imagery that expand Surrealism’s reach. “They infuse Surrealism with mythologies and spiritual symbolism, creating a universe where the material and the spiritual intersect,” he says. Their work, he adds, often challenges political and social structures, making Surrealism “a space for resistance, introspection, and cultural affirmation.”

Latin Art Core’s presentation in Miami pairs key works by Lam with a robust selection of modern and contemporary Cuban artists, including Tomás Sánchez, Servando Cabrera Moreno, Agustín Fernández, José Bedia, Manuel Mendive, Roberto Fabelo, Pedro Pablo Oliva, and Rubén Alpízar. Together, the exhibition traces the evolution of Cuban art from mid-century modernism to the island’s newest voices.



For Moleiro, this continuity reflects why Latin American Surrealism remains essential today. “Its synthesis of myth, memory, and visionary invention continues to inspire artists worldwide,” he says. “It stands as an essential chapter in the history of the avant-garde.”

With its Miami presentation underway, Latin Art Core not only celebrates Lam’s enduring legacy but also reaffirms the region’s vital place in shaping global modern and contemporary art.