Wifredo Lam Juan Castillo Vázquez Collection

Intimate Cartographies

Wifredo Lam Exhibition Available in the United States from the Juan Vázquez Private Collection

Represented by Casa Duende | Philadelphia

Intimate Cartographies is an exhibition dedicated to Wifredo Lam(Sagua la Grande, Cuba, 1902 – Paris, 1982), a central figure of 20th-century modern art and a pioneer of Latin American avant-garde movements. The exhibition brings together works that once belonged to the artist’s personal collection, now part of the Juan Vázquez Private Collection, one of the most comprehensive and significant collections devoted to Lam, managed by his Cuban family.

The exhibition

Conceived as an inner cartography, the exhibition proposes a non-chronological reading of Lam’s work, foregrounding his most intimate creative processes. The selected works explore the intersections of surrealism, Afro-Caribbean heritage, spirituality, memory, and displacement—core elements of Lam’s artistic language. Rather than offering a linear historical survey, Intimate Cartographies invites viewers to engage with the internal landscape of the artist, where personal experience and cultural symbolism merge into a powerful and enduring visual vocabulary. Previously presented in Spain under the title Wifredo Lam: Intimate Cartography, the exhibition forms part of the international exhibition history of the collection

The collection

The Juan Vázquez Private Collection comprises an exceptional group of works that Wifredo Lam left in Cuba in the late 1950s, when he permanently relocated to Europe. Over the past decades, the collection has been presented in major exhibitions in Europe, Latin America, and the United States, in collaboration with leading cultural institutions.

In the U.S., works from the collection were featured in The Drawings of Wifredo Lam (2017) at the Lehigh University Art Galleries (Bethlehem, Pennsylvania). This exhibition was ranked by ARTNET as the most important summer exhibition worldwide.

U.S. representation

Based in Philadelphia, Casa Duende represents the Juan Vázquez Private Collection in the United States, acting as the institutional and curatorial liaison for exhibitions, loans, and academic collaborations.

Information for institutions

Intimate Cartographies is adaptable to museums, cultural centers, and university galleries and is currently available for touring in the United States. To request the curatorial dossier or institutional information:

Contact Eva Recio. Arts Consultant, for Casa Duende, @ evarecio@casadeduende.com