The Story of Our Lives
Part 1
Fridah Kahlo built her legacy between 1907 and 1954. The Mexican painter and fashion icon was married to Diego Rivera, who constantly featured in her portraits and paintings. Her contribution to art is considered one of Mexico’s best works. She started exercising her painting skills after a serious bus accident that injured her severely. This happened when she was attending the National Preparatory School as one of the few females whose fathers valued education of women. She often wore colorful clothes and jewelry as a lifestyle, especially after she began her first mural project in the school. Diego Rivera was a renowned muralist and he helped through encouragement and being a constant source of motivation.
The accident happened before she could complete the mural. She was admitted to Red Cross Hospital as she had suffered serious spine and pelvis injuries. She was discharged after several months to continue recuperating at home. It was during her recovery that Kahlo nurtured and honed her painting skills. She completed her first self-portrait in a few months and handed it over to a colleague. A year later, she reconnected with Diego Rivera who was a great encourager in her artwork. Even after they got married, the painting commissions that Kahlo received dictated the settlement patterns of the couple. They moved from San Francisco to California and even in New York to attend exhibitions in the Museum of Modern Art (Altshuler, 2013).
Beginning from 1932, Kahlo’s work became increasingly personal as she incorporated deeper surrealism and graphic elements. Her Henry Ford Painting of 1932 depicted a naked hospital scene that told the sad story of losing her second child to a miscarriage. She painted some of her most famous works during times of hardships. ‘The Two Fridas’ of 1939 was painted at a time when she was deeply saddened by Diego’s infidelity and a failing marriage. Similarly, the portrait of actress Dorothy Hale was greatly controversial as it captured the actress’s tragic leap to an early death. ‘The Broken Column’, the focus of this assignment, was painted at a time of deteriorating physical health resulting from the accident. She painted it around a time when she underwent several surgeries and used corsets to support her back. She expressed anguish and suffering in a horrifying and straightforward manner.
The painting has nails sticking out of Kahlo’s entire body, including her face and hands. Her torso is split and looks like an earthquake fissure. Instead of a spine, she puts a column that looks as if it is on the verge of collapse and turning into rubble. It penetrates from her loins and extends to the chin. The background contains earth with dark, winding ravines. She is also clad in a white corset that runs from her shoulders to her waist, in bandage looking strands. The waist downwards is covered in a white cloth, which almost resembles a hospital sheet. Clearly, Kahlo’s physical challenges were constant themes in her works. Despite her chronic …
