Le Repos du modèle 1938

Wifredo Lam made this oil on canvas artwork, "Le Repos du modèle," which translates to "The Model's Rest". Lam’s canvas is a space of inquiry, where the figure, rendered in cool blues and grays, sprawls across a striped surface. The painting comes into being through shifts and intuitive gestures; its textured surface tells a story of trial, error, and emergence. I get the sense the canvas holds a world of its own. What was Lam thinking, I wonder? Maybe about other painters? The influence of Picasso seems palpable, yet Lam brings something new to the table. His choice of a muted palette and simplified forms speaks to a desire to express more than just what’s on the surface. Each brushstroke, each color choice, is loaded with intention, communicating feeling and meaning through the physicality of the medium. Artists are in an ongoing conversation, inspiring each other's creativity across time. Painting, for me, is a form of embodied expression, embracing ambiguity and uncertainty, which allows for multiple interpretations.