Tickets
English
DonateMembershipTickets

Goddess with Foliage

1942
Not on view
Combining human, vegetal, and animal elements, Lam’s large figure features pointed ears, a horse’s snout, fruit-shaped breasts, and pronounced hands. The artist studied and synthesized African art, Cubism, and Surrealism while working for eighteen years in Europe, first in Spain and later in Paris, where he befriended Pablo Picasso and poet André Breton, Surrealism’s founder. The stylistic hybridity of Lam’s art parallels his mixed ethnicity: his father was Chinese and his mother descended from a formerly enslaved Congolese mother and a father with indigenous Cuban and Spanish ancestry. Through his art, Lam sought to promote and sustain modern Afro-Cuban culture, which he feared was being corrupted by tourism and suppressed by the government.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Goddess with Foliage
  • Artist: Wifredo Lam (Cuban, Sagua La Grande 1902–1982 Paris)
  • Date: 1942
  • Medium: Gouache on paper
  • Dimensions: 41 1/2 × 33 1/2 in. (105.4 × 85.1 cm)
  • Classification: Drawings
  • Credit Line: The Pierre and Maria-Gaetana Matisse Collection, 2002
  • Object Number: 2002.456.32
  • Rights and Reproduction: © 2026 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
  • Curatorial Department: Modern and Contemporary Art

More Artwork

More Artwork
Untitled Abstraction with Figures, Wifredo Lam Cuban, Color etching, aqautint
Untitled Abstraction with Figures
Wifredo Lam
20th century
Cabasa, Gourd, string, beads, shells, silk, polychrome, Cuban
Cabasa
Cuban
late 20th Century
Street Scene in Paris (Scène de rue à Paris), Félix Vallotton Swiss, Gouache and oil on cardboard.
Street Scene in Paris (Scène de rue à Paris)
Félix Vallotton
1897
Untitled, Wifredo Lam Cuban, Seven etching and aquatint prints
Untitled
Wifredo Lam
Publisher XXe Siècle
1979
Güiro, Gourd, Cuban
Güiro
Cuban
late 19th century

Related Content

Timeline of Art History

Entries and chronologies from The Met's art encyclopedia.

Publications

Books, guides, and catalogues published by The Met.

Research Resources

The Met provides unparalleled resources for research and welcomes an international community of students and scholars. The Met's Open Access API is where creators and researchers can connect to the The Met collection. Open Access data and public domain images are available for unrestricted commercial and noncommercial use without permission or fee.

To request images under copyright and other restrictions, please use this Image Request form.

Feedback

We continue to research and examine historical and cultural context for objects in The Met collection. If you have comments or questions about this object record, please contact us using the form below. The Museum looks forward to receiving your comments.

Send feedback

Content Notice

The Metropolitan Museum of Art presents over 5,000 years of art from around the world, and our online collection reflects ongoing work conducted over the course of our more than 150-year history. You may encounter objects or images that may be inappropriate for some viewers or information that may be outdated.