Source: The National Museum of Cuba. Havana: Letras Cubanas, 1978, fig. 116.
Image: Wifredo Lam, "La Jungla / The Jungle" (1943, oil on canvas). This painting is in the Museum of Modern Art (MOMA) in New York City.
Comment: This painting is the one to which Alejo Carpentier refers as a key for seeing and understanding what lo real maravilloso (Magical Realism?) is. In it you see what art criticism calls polymorphism of humans, animals, and plants, the result of which is hybridism. See the article by Carpentier before tackling the humanities questions below: => Carpentier.
Humanities questions: (A) What do you see in this painting? What is its style? What is its content? What African or Afro-Cuban elements do you see? (B) How do its style and content relate to each other, reinforce each other? (C) What does the title mean, and what does it refer to? (D) What does Carpentier's article contribute to your understanding of this painting? What is the date of Carpentier's article? (E) In what way are we exposed to a true interdisciplinary humanities exercise in seeking interpretations, answers, and appreciation based on (1) Lam's painting, (2) the theory of the real maravilloso, (3) a twentieth-century essay, (4) Latin American historical reality, and (5) literature, art, film that arise from the above?