Jacqueline Lamba: The Forgotten Surrealist
Publisher: Merrell Publishers
Release date: April 7, 2026
ISBN-13: 978-1858947266
Available from https://www.amazon.com/Jacqueline-Lamba-Surrealist-Salomon-Grimberg/dp/185894726X
Riveting Jacqueline Lamba Biography Reclaims One of Surrealism’s True Pioneers — and Reveals Long-Hidden Affair with Frida Kahlo
Jacqueline Lamba: The Forgotten Surrealist by Salomon Grimberg is a complete portrait of a woman who struggled to be herself but was cursed with great beauty, which kept her from becoming the person she was. She was as difficult as she was brilliant, an artist whose extraordinary life and visionary paintings have been overlooked until now.
Among the founders of Surrealism and often referred to as “The Pope of Surrealism” was the poet André Breton — Jacqueline Lamba’s husband — yet it is Breton alone whom history remembers. In this landmark biography, psychoanalytic art historian and biographer Grimberg demands a long-overdue reckoning. Drawing on unpublished diaries, letters, exclusive interviews with those who knew Lamba throughout her life and years of meticulous archival research, Grimberg restores her to her rightful place: not a footnote to a famous man, but a painter of fierce originality and one of Surrealism's true pioneers.
Lamba moved through the 20th century’s most electric artistic circles, forging relationships with Alberto Giacometti, Pablo Picasso, David Hare, Leonora Carrington, Roberto Matta, Dora Maar, Paul Eluard, Yves Tanguy, Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera. Hers was a life of fierce independence, radical creativity and singular courage — yet it has been almost entirely eclipsed by the reputations of the men around her.
Among the book’s most significant revelations, which draws on previously unpublished letters, Grimberg documents for the first time that Lamba had a passionate affair with Frida Kahlo — a discovery that reshapes our understanding of both women and deepens the already complex web of relationships at the heart of the Surrealist movement.
A rich plate section features high-quality reproductions of Lamba’s finest surviving works alongside rare photographs of Lamba with Breton, Dora Maar, Picasso and others who shaped the cultural landscape of the era. Grimberg interprets Lamba’s
paintings with the authority of a scholar who has spent decades immersed in this world, making this biography essential reading for students of feminism and Surrealism, and anyone seriously engaged with the art of the 20th century.
Key Highlights
• First major biography to reposition Jacqueline Lamba as a leading figure of Surrealism — not a footnote to it.
• World-first revelation, drawn from unpublished letters, of Lamba’s affair with Frida Kahlo.
• Exclusive interviews with those who knew Lamba personally, providing unprecedented access to her complex inner life.
• Authoritative critical analysis of Lamba’s surviving paintings by one of the foremost scholars of Surrealism.
• Richly illustrated plate section featuring Lamba’s paintings and rare archival photographs.
• Written by Salomon Grimberg, celebrated biographer and leading authority on Frida Kahlo.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Salomon Grimberg is an art historian, psychiatrist and biographer based in Dallas, Texas. He is widely recognized as one of the world’s foremost authorities on Frida Kahlo and the Surrealist movement, with a distinguished body of scholarship that brings both rigorous research and deep psychological insight into the lives of modern art’s most complex figures. Jacqueline Lamba: The Forgotten Surrealist represents the culmination of years of archival research, exclusive interviews and critical engagement with Lamba’s work.
