Frida Kahlo The Broken Column

Frida Kahlo, The Broken Column, Canvas Print, Oil Painting Replica and High Resolution Image Download

Pain and suffering are a constant subject in Frida's paintings. In this painting, The Broken Column, Frida expressed her torment and anguish in the most explicit and frightening way. Nails are stuck to her face and all over her body. A crack in her body appears like an earthquake fissure. There's a world with dark mountain passes in the background. Initially, she paints herself naked but then covers the lower part with something that resembles a hospital sheet. Instead of her spine, a broken column is placed. The column seems on the verge of becoming rubble. The column, penetrating from the waist to the chin, appears phallic, and the sexual innuendo is more noticeable due to the beauty of Frida's breasts and body.

The metal corset depicting a polio support rather than a surgical one may refer to Kahlo's polio past or symbolize the physical and social limitations in Kahlo's life. In 1944, Kahlo's doctors recommended her to wear a steel corset instead of the casts she previously wore. The brace shown is one of many braces that Frida really used throughout her life and is currently on display in her home and museum, Casa Azul. In The Broken Column, this corset is holding Kahlo's damaged body together.

In this painting, Frida looks beautiful and strong. Even though her entire body is supported by the corset, she conveys a message of spiritual victory. There are tears on her face but she looks straight ahead, forcing both herself and the viewers to confront her situation.

A parallel can be drawn from Kahlo's self-portrayal to the "Martyrdom of Saint Sebastian". In Sebastian's legend, he was discovered to be a Christian, tied to a tree, and used as an archery target. Despite being left for dead, he survives, but later perishes at the hands of the Roman Empire for his religion. He is often depicted tied to a tree, his body surrounded by arrows. An American poet named Bruce Bond explains in a poem named after the saint in 2013, "pain is an arrow that pins a body to bone".

The style of this painting is quite unique. She put each feeling firmly on the ground to create a simple and clear image. There are no masterful ornaments of the brush, and colors are neatly found within the contours. Frida Kahlo is an exception to the problem of portraying pain.