(in chronological order)
Albert Dürer: Self-portrait as an Ecce Homo, c.1500
Leonardo da Vinci: Self-portrait, c.1512
Rembrandt van Rijn: Self-portrait, 1659
Vincent van Gogh: Self-portrait with bandaged ear, 1889
Pablo Picasso: Self-portrait, 1901
Egon Schiele: Self-portrait, 1911
Max Beckmann: Self-portrait with glass of champagne, 1919
Frida Kahlo: The broken column (Self-portrait), 1944
Francis Bacon: Self-portrait, 1971
Jean-Michelle Basquiat: Self-portrait, 1982
8. FRIDA KAHLO: “The broken column (self-portrait)”, 1944 - oil on canvas, Museo Dolores Olmedo, Mexico
© Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York/VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn
On September 17 th of 1925, a bus accident almost killed a 17 years old Mexican girl called Frida Kahlo. She did not die, but the violent crash had terrible sequels, breaking her spinal column, pelvis, and her right leg. It also damaged her uterus, annulling her reproductive ability.
“The broken column” is a ruthless testimony of the suffering that accompanied Frida for all her life. The artist has depicted herself with her nude torso surrounded by a brutal body cast, while a cruel breach in his body allows us to observe how a stone column broken in several pieces is replacing her spinal column, symbolizing the consequences of the terrible bus accident. In addition, Frida has exaggerated her “ugly” factions, such as extremely joined eyebrows and the hair over her mouth. When we talked about Rembrandt's self-portraits, we pointed that the artist had showed no mercy for himself, representing his figure in a honest, stoical manner. Very different it is the case of Frida, whose self-portraits can be considered as quiet but terrible moans.