La Fiancée de Kiriwina 1949

"La Fiancée de Kiriwina" by Wifredo Lam is like a dreamscape rendered in pale blues, greys, and blacks. The act of painting feels so present here, like Lam was digging deep, using the canvas to figure something out. I wonder, was he thinking about Picasso? About the ways we can see a body? There's a feeling of searching, in those lines, the way they don't quite settle, but stay open, like a question. It's not just what he paints, but how: thin layers of paint, almost like a wash, with sharp, dark lines cutting through. That long, dark mark that runs down the center of the figure… It's so decisive, yet it leaves so much unsaid. You can feel the artist’s hand, the way he’s pushing and pulling at the image, letting it emerge, bit by bit. It makes me want to grab a brush myself, to join in the conversation, and to see where the painting might lead me.