As I saw Frida Kahlo’s painting entitled “The Broken Column” in Phaidon’s “Anatomy” book and after a careful analysis of the famous Mexican artist’s titled artwork, I started to have aches not only my back but literally my whole body.
Thanks to this, I know that the painting is masterful because it literally affects me physically, generating pain. Skillfully, Frida presented across the canvas of the titled picture a pain. This ache passes on to the recipient of the work in an unimaginable way. I do not know how this is happening. Still, practically every time I see “The Broken Column” picture, I feel somehow a disturbing ache, and a bizarre grimace appears on my face. It is not surprising that Frida Kahlo is still considered one of the greatest artists who had ever lived on our planet. Unfortunately, I still do not know much about this female genius artist.
I already bought a Taschen book about her, but it is still awaiting to be read*.
A similar situation is with a Taschen book about Kahlo’s husband, a famous Mexican painter named Diego Rivera. I have an XL edition book about Rivera, and I want to stress that Taschen XL editions are magnificent books. For me, they are almost ideal. They have only one disadvantage. They are too enormous to be read lying on the back. This position is the best for me to read a book. I do not want to sit during reading because I can have back pain. This is how I managed to get back to the main topic. Undoubtedly, my back pain is nothing comparable to the aches that Frida Kahlo had. We can clearly see on “The Broken Column” image, and we can imagine how many pains Mexican painter had.
When she was eighteen years old, she had a terrific tram accident.
Later on, she had had one abortion. It happened when it was clear that her health would not allow her to go through with the pregnancy. When she became pregnant again a couple of years later, she miscarried. I suppose that’s why “The Broken Column” painting is so painfully marvelous. Undoubtedly, it is one of the most gorgeous paintings I have ever seen.
* I wrote this text on the 5th of April, 2021. On the day of publishing post (24/02/2022) I want to stress that I already read Andrea Kettenmann’s “Kahlo” book.
