Wifredo Lam first studied law in Havana, before changing to the Escuela de Bellas Artes to study painting. In 1923 he went to Madrid, where his work showed first surrealist influences. At the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War he went to Paris, where he became friends with Pablo Picasso. His origin and the African religion left their mark on his painting, now he fully belonged to the Surrealists. During the war he travelled in the Caribbean with Claude Lévi-Straus, André Masson, and André Breton. In 1964 he received the Guggenheim International Award. Lam created his distinctive style by uniting Surrealism and Cubism with the spirit of the Caribbean.
