This image represents a two-dimensional work of art, such as a
drawing,
painting,
print, or similar creation. The
copyright for this image is likely owned by either the
artist who created it, the
individual who commissioned the work, or their
legal heirs. It is believed that the use of
low-resolution images of artworks:
for purposes of
critical commentary on:
- the specific work in question,
- the artistic genre or technique employed in the artwork, or
- the artistic school or tradition to which the artist is associated,
qualifies as
fair use under
copyright law.
Any other use of this image, could potentially constitute a copyright infringement.
The Broken Column is a self-portrait executed in 1944 painted in a surrealist style by the artist Frida Kahlo, who was born in Mexico in 1906. It is in private ownership. It is a small work that measures 16.9 inches by 13 inches, and is an oil painting on canvas.
-
Background
Kahlo’s best-known works are possibly her self-portraits, which are very striking and portray a stark realism. The Broken Column is just one of her paintings that was inspired by a horrific accident the artist was involved in when she was eighteen.
-
Kahlo was traveling on a bus that collided with a tram. A metal railing on the bus was driven upwards through the artist’s leg and abdomen, causing multiple fractures.
-
Composition
The artist is standing in a surreal landscape. She is almost naked. Tears fall from her eyes. A broken, tapering, stone column divides the body from the lower abdomen to the chin. A number of nails pierce the visible parts of her body.
-
Kahlo was 18 years old when she was involved in a horrific traffic accident, in which an iron rod pierced her abdomen, right foot was crushed, and two vertebrae were fractured, as well as a number of other bones, including eleven fractures in her right leg. As she recovered in a full body cast, her mother brought her a small lap easel, and, with a mirror over her bed, began painting self-portraits. This self-portrait embodies many elements that were in Kahlo’s artwork, including the themes of isolation, a broken body, and intense suffering and pain. This painting also embodies another one of Kahlo’s themes, that of two bodies, one of which she is a complete and full bodied woman, and another, reflecting broken insides.