HOLY NAME UNIVERSITY

CITY OF TAGBILARAN
    BASIC EDUCATION DEPARTMENT        
Senior High School Level
S.Y. 2021 -2022

CONTEMPORARY PHILIPPINE ART FROM THE REGIONS

Name: AJ COLEEN A. ROSALEJOS

Grade Level & Section: 12 ABM – MOTHER OF CHRIST (SET B)
Date: OCTOBER 24, 2022

Analysis and Interpretation of an Art Masterpiece

SURREALISM PAINTING

“The Broken Column”

Painting by Frida Kahlo

Title: The Broken Column

Artist: Frida Kahlo
Created: 1944
Mediums/Materials used: Oil on Masonite
Genre: Self-portrait
Dimensions: 39.8 cm × 30.6 cm (15.7 in × 12.0 in)
Location: Museo Dolores Olmedo, Xochimilco, Mexico City, Mexico
Periods: Surrealism, Modern art, Naïve art, Magical Realism
ANALYSIS OF SURREALISM ART
 ELEMENTS STATEMENT
a. Determine the a. The painting depicts a woman set against a miserable and fractured
subject matter by landscape that appears to have been through as much struggles and
naming events or trauma. Her near-naked torso has a deep and jagged fissure that
issues associated allows the viewer to see her spine as a cracked and ruptured Ionic
stone column. Her spinal column appears to be collapsing. Nails of
with the artwork.
various sizes pierce her entire body and face. Tears run freely down
her cheeks.
b. Discuss how the
qualities of the b. The colors in the painting are mostly greens, blues, whites, and the
artwork contribute to lighter brown of Kahlo’s skin. The artist creates a strong focus on
its appearance, horizontal lines in the composition. The horizontal lines from the
image or function. cracked earth behind Kahlo are echoed in the horizontal lines from her
metal corset around her upper torso. The horizon line in the
background appears slightly diagonal and slanted, which gives the
c. Describe the effect of landscape a slanted appearance behind her. This creates a very subtle
the materials/medium sense of chaos, as if the land behind her is falling apart or moving,
used. which is undoubtedly a reflection of Kahlo’s inner state. Kahlo creates
spatial depth and three-dimensionality in her delineation of the cracks in
d. Give your reaction to the earth behind her, which creates the vast extending landscape
the artwork. behind her. She created this by depicting the nearest cracks in the
earth as bigger and as we gaze further ahead these diminish in size.
The artist puts together the elements of visual art to express her
feelings, and share them with the observer. The elements of this
artwork are line, shape, color, texture, and space that come together to
form the principles of design, which are rhythm, emphasis, balance,
variety, and unity.

c. The materials/mediums used were oil paints and Masonite boards. Oil
paints are slow-drying paints made from powdered pigment mixed with
linseed oil. These oils help the paint dry more slowly than water-based
paints, which dry by evaporation. Because of this, oil paintings can be
rendered at a slower pace. At the time of Kahlo's painting career,
Masonite boards were a relatively new type of material for artists.

d. The artist's artwork has interested me in many ways. What interested

me is that the artist illustrates her life and the struggles she goes
through. I was captivated by Frida Kahlo's portrait of herself in The
Broken Column, as I became aware of her suffering. It was almost as if
her eyes were looking directly at me, telling me about her sorrows.
 QUESTIONS ANSWERS
a. How did the artist a. The artwork is an oil on Masonite painting that was painted in 1944
make the artwork? shortly after she had spinal surgery to correct on-going problems which
had resulted from a serious traffic accident when she was 18 years old.
b. Is it a good artwork? During her slow recovery from the trauma, Kahlo taught herself to paint.
It is theorized that her art was a form of therapy to distance herself from
her pain and process the depression and suffering she often felt.
c. Do you like/dislike
the artwork? Why? b. (YES) In my opinion, it is a good artwork but a sad one. It is because
the artwork shows the sufferings and sorrows of the artist.
d. How does it compare
c. I like the artwork because it conveys the personal stories of the artist.
with other artworks?
d. The art is considered to be one of the most affective pieces depicting
pain and trauma. It is a self-portrait that demonstrates both the physical
e. What is the value of and psychological pain the artist endured.
the artwork to you,
the youth, or society? e. The artwork is very valuable to me, the youth, and to the society
because it holds significance as a symbol of identity, within and beyond
the disabled community. The artist was disabled and the first female
artist to rebel against the canons of art in order to explore her psyche,
full of symbols and personal stories, which inspired the imaginations of
countless artists around the world. This led to the creation of a sort of
broken woman art, not only to alleviate the artist’s pain, but which
would also create an outlet for so many other women going through
their own form of pain, whether physical, physiological, or
psychological.
 INTERPRETATION OF “THE BROKEN COLUMN” BY FRIDA KAHLO
ELEMENTS STATEMENTS
a. What is the main a. The artwork is a self-portrait and was painted just after the artist had
idea and the overall undergone a spinal operation. The portrait demonstrates the struggles
meaning of the the artist experience during the period of time that her surgery took
artwork? place. The colors and the shapes are used to portray the pain and
suffering she dealt with. The artist's inspiration is the pain that she
endured during this time of her life.
b. Interpretative
Statement: “Can I b. Yes. Interpretative statement: “The pain and suffering of the woman.”
express what I think
the artwork is about
in one sentence?” c. The painting shows a woman or a self-portrait of the artist. During this
period, the artist had to wear a steel corset because of her constant
back pain. In the painting, the corset seems to be the only thing holding
c. Cite the evidence her together and upright since the broken column – in place of her
inside or outside the damaged spine – is fractured and broken in several places. The
artwork that supports background portrays a vast land which symbolizes loneliness and the
your interpretation. nails embedded in her skin, on her face and body increase the affective
appeal of pain.

QUESTIONS ANSWERS
a. What is the artwork a. The artwork is about the pain and suffering of the artist. The painting
about? depicts an exhausted, defenseless, but courageous and resilient Frida
(the artist).
b. What is it intending to
communicate? b. The Broken Column communicates with intent by using colors and
shapes to convey the darkness the artist has experienced. Through this
painting, Kahlo opens up about her struggles after a bus accident and
c. What statement is with Polio.
the artist putting
c. The artist put together the elements of visual art to express her feelings,
forward through the and share them with the audience. The artwork is a desperate cry of
artwork? pain that contains the artist’s experience and memory.

d. Are there objects d. The Ionic column represents the artist’s broken spine; the nails pierced
within the artistic on her body represent the emotional and physical pain she faced; the
frame that symbolize tears from her eyes represent mental pail; the background represents
something? What are loneliness and isolation; and the metal corset depicts a polio support.
these?
e. The symbolic elements to this painting attempt to portray the artist as
entirely alone, accompanied only by the pain and torment of her injuries.
e. What is the meaning
of the artwork?