Masterpiece Stories

Frida Kahlo, The Broken Column

Zuzanna Stańska 22 October 2017 min Read

The Broken Column was painted shortly after Frida Kahlo had undergone another surgery on her spinal column. The operation left her bedridden and “enclosed” in a metallic corset, which helped to alleviate the intense, and constant pain she was in.

Frida Kahlo, The Broken Column, 1944, Museo Dolores Olmedo Broken Column frida kahlo
Frida Kahlo, The Broken Column, 1944, Museo Dolores Olmedo

The pain was a constant companion of  Kahlo’s life. On September 17, 1925, Kahlo and her boyfriend and fellow Cachuca, Alejandro Gómez Arias, were on their way home from school when the wooden bus they were riding collided with a streetcar. Several people were killed, and Kahlo suffered nearly fatal injuries—an iron handrail impaled her through her pelvis, fracturing the bone. She also fractured several ribs, her legs, and her collarbone. She spent a month in the hospital and two months recovering at home, before being able to return to work. As she continued to experience fatigue and back pain, her doctors ordered x-rays, which revealed that the accident had also displaced three vertebrae. Her treatment included wearing a plaster corset, which confined her to bedrest for part of the three months she spent unable to walk.

The accident ended Kahlo’s dreams of becoming a doctor and caused her pain and illness for the rest of her life.

In this painting she is depicted standing in the middle of a completely arid, cracked landscape. Her torso is encased in metal belts lined with fabric that provide pressure and support for her back. They help to prevent her body from collapsing, a possibility which is announced by the image running down the middle of her torso. There a completely fractured Ionic column on the point of collapse has replaced her spinal column. Frida’s head rests on the capital. Although her face is bathed in tears, it doesn’t reflect a sign of pain. The nails piercing her body are a symbol of the constant pain she faced.

By 1944, Kahlo’s doctors had recommended that she wear a steel corset instead of the plaster casts she had worn previously.

Find out more:

[easyazon_image align=”none” height=”160″ identifier=”0060085894″ locale=”US” src=”https://www.dailyartmagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/51pCfS2C5fL.SL160.jpg” tag=”dailyartdaily-20″ width=”106″] [easyazon_image align=”none” height=”160″ identifier=”383650085X” locale=”US” src=”https://www.dailyartmagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/51R6rCbxvlL.SL160.jpg” tag=”dailyartdaily-20″ width=”131″] [easyazon_image align=”none” height=”160″ identifier=”0547821840″ locale=”US” src=”https://www.dailyartmagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/51cF82pblDL.SL160.jpg” tag=”dailyartdaily-20″ width=”128″]

Recommended

Anguish August Friedrich Schenck Masterpiece Stories

Masterpiece Story: Anguish by August Friedrich Schenck

Surrounded by menacing crows, a mother sheep wails in anguish as her lifeless young lamb rests on a snowy bed. This scene, painted by August...

Montaine Dumont 14 September 2023

Rembrandt, Abduction of Ganymede, 1635, Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister, Dresden, Germany. Detail. Masterpiece Stories

Masterpiece Story: Abduction of Ganymede by Rembrandt

Rembrandt is less known for his mythological paintings, but their visual impact matches any of his religious images and secular portraits. The...

James W Singer 11 September 2023

Jan Havicksz Steen, Woman at her Toilet, 1655-60, oil on panel, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, Netherlands. Detail. Masterpiece Stories

Masterpiece Story: Woman at Her Toilet by Jan Steen

Jan Steen’s Woman at Her Toilet is a provocative masterpiece of genre paintings because of its visual complexity and seductive allure, inviting...

James W Singer 28 August 2023

Masterpiece Stories

Masterpiece Story: Gallant Conversation by Gerard ter Borch

Gallant Conversation by Gerard ter Borch is a genre painting filled with a mysterious narrative. What are the three people doing? Why are they in a...

James W Singer 14 August 2023