With admirable syncretism Lam used the languages of the European historical avant-gardes (above all Cubism and Surrealism) and of post-war movements like CoBrA, which were based on the expression of the unconscious and the irrational, to describe the myths and ancestral forms of African and Caribbean art in a modern key. He used the personal style he developed to convey political messages in defense of ethnic minorities and against all forms of discrimination.
