The Art of Art:Frida Kahlo’s The Broken Column

• Elements of Art– Line

– Shape and Form

– Space

– Texture

– Value and Light

– Color

– Time

• Organizing Principles– Repetition

– Variety

– Rhythm

– Balance

– Compositional Unity

– Emphasis

– Proportion

– Relationship to the Environment

Frida Kahlo’s The Broken Column, 1944 • In order to make these art

pieces fit into our format, we need to select art from which we can readily draw a theme.

• In The Broken Column, we might conclude that “For women within patriarchy, life is painful and fraught with vulnerability” is a potential workable theme.

Image from: http://www.urtonart.com/history/frida-y-diego.htm

Frida Kahlo’s The Broken Column, 1944

• Repetition– Lines of straps

• Several are needed• Cultural pressure is constant

– Cracks within the Ionic Column• The more cracks, the more

fragile• Associated with ancient

Greece, an extreme patriarchy: pressure on women to look and act is constant

– Bare breasts• Vulnerability, objectification• Highlight femaleness

(otherness)

– NailsImage from: http://www.urtonart.com/history/frida-y-diego.htm

Frida Kahlo’s The Broken Column, 1944

• Variety– Head

• Turned to left (feminine side) but ear shows on right (masculine side)

– Skirt• Flows from left to right

– Background• Terrain shapes are different

from one side of figure to the other

• Notice green on left side to suggest fertility much less present on right

– Nails• Each turned in different

direction Image from: http://www.urtonart.com/history/frida-y-diego.htm

Frida Kahlo’s The Broken Column, 1944

• Rhythm– Predictable pattern

• Corset-like straps

• Breasts

• Ionic column details

• Nails, flow upward from left

• Balance– Distribution of visual weight

• Largely symmetrical– Arms, body, straps

• Few asymmetrical elements– Ear, skirt

Image from: http://www.urtonart.com/history/frida-y-diego.htm

Frida Kahlo’s The Broken Column, 1944

• Compositional Unity– Simple triangle

• Pulls eyes upward

• Contains the most dramatic element

– One eye

– Two breasts

– Torso with column and straps

– No Arms

– Places the mouth off center toward the left

Image from: http://www.urtonart.com/history/frida-y-diego.htm

Frida Kahlo’s The Broken Column, 1944– Emphasis

• Rectangle within triangle

– Focal point (dominant contrast) is chest elements

– Viewer is directed, or constrained, as is the female figure

– Economy• No extraneous

details– Barren landscape,

no jewelry, skirt covering most private parts

Image from: http://www.urtonart.com/history/frida-y-diego.htm

Frida Kahlo’s The Broken Column, 1944• Proportion

– Body seems to be proportioned correctly

• “Regular” woman

• Relationship to the Environment– How the art is, itself,

displayed can add to or detract from the piece’s meaning

• How does seeing the piece in a PowerPoint presentation with a ‘marble’ background affect your sense of the piece’s theme? Image from: http://www.urtonart.com/history/frida-y-diego.htm