Frida Kahlo was born on July 6, 1907 in what is today part of Mexico City. Her father was German and her mother was Spanish with indigenous ancestry. The indigenous dress and culture greatly inspired Kahlo. Kahlo was married to Diego Rivera, who was over twenty years older than her. The two had multiple complications in their marriage resulting in them divorcing, however, the divorce only lasted a year before they remarried. The two lived in “La Casa Azul” and when Diego died he donated the house to Mexico where it is now a museum dedicated to Kahlo. When Kahlo was 18, she was aboard a bus that collided with a trolley, severely damaging Kahlo’s spine. The accident affected Kahlo the rest of her, causing her to have many medical issues, including
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In La columna rota, Kahlo once again conveys the themes of her pain, pertaining especially to her inability to have children. The background is a desert that is disconnected and lifeless. In most of Kahlo’s paintings, the backgrounds are tumultuous and turbulent, representing her life. The lifelessness of the background directly points to her infertility. Instead of having a spine, Kahlo paints a broken column. The column is Ionic, which is associated with femininity and virginity. Since the column is broken, Kahlo is expressing her feelings of brokenness because of her infertility. The corset that Kahlo is wearing, is contradictory. It confines Kahlo and is often an object of repression because it is meant to make women’s waists smaller than they are actually meant to be. However, the specific corset she is wearing is for medical purposes meant to help her heal her broken spine. The pins act in a similar way. That many pins would be quite painful, yet they are needed because doctors must use them to help her recover. The cloth around Kahlo’s waist was painted in later. The cloth is a representation of Christ, especially since Kahlo frequently included Christian themes and symbols in her paintings. The cloth also adds to the contradicting points: Kahlo is immobile but the cloth creates the feeling of
In La columna rota, Kahlo once again conveys the themes of her pain, pertaining especially to her inability to have children. The background is a desert that is disconnected and lifeless. In most of Kahlo’s paintings, the backgrounds are tumultuous and turbulent, representing her life. The lifelessness of the background directly points to her infertility. Instead of having a spine, Kahlo paints a broken column. The column is Ionic, which is associated with femininity and virginity. Since the column is broken, Kahlo is expressing her feelings of brokenness because of her infertility. The corset that Kahlo is wearing, is contradictory. It confines Kahlo and is often an object of repression because it is meant to make women’s waists smaller than they are actually meant to be. However, the specific corset she is wearing is for medical purposes meant to help her heal her broken spine. The pins act in a similar way. That many pins would be quite painful, yet they are needed because doctors must use them to help her recover. The cloth around Kahlo’s waist was painted in later. The cloth is a representation of Christ, especially since Kahlo frequently included Christian themes and symbols in her paintings. The cloth also adds to the contradicting points: Kahlo is immobile but the cloth creates the feeling of