Artemisia Gentileschi
Judith Leyster
Frida Kahlo
Sofonisba Anguissola
Tamara DeLempicka
Romaine Brooks

Frida Kahlo

The majority of Frida Kahlo's paintings are self-portraits. The Broken Column was painted in 1944 during a five month period in which the artist, because of declining health, was forced to wear a series of orthopedic corsets to support her back.

Frida Kahlo The Broken Column (1944)

In her book entitled Frida Kahlo: The Paintings, Hayden Herrera describes the painting:

"In The Broken Column, Frida's anguish is communicated in the most physical and harrowing way, by nails stuck into her face and flesh and by a split in her torso that resembles an earthquake fissure. The opening is echoed in the dark ravines cut into the earth behind her, and it suggests the horror of surgical intervention. Inside the gap, a cracked Ionic column replaces her own deteriorating vertebrae." (180)