Renowned Mexican painter Frida Kahlo, shown with her husband,
Diego Rivera, desperately wanted to have children but was never
able to carry a pregnancy to term. By Rita Rubin When Dr.
Fernando Antelo looks at “The Broken Column,” one of many self-
portraits depicting artist Frida Kahlo’s chronic pain and health
problems, he feels like he’s having a conversation with a
colleague as well as a patient. The piece, painted shortly after
Kahlo underwent spinal surgery at around age 37, shows the
artist, who had taken pre-med courses in high school, encased in
a body brace. The flesh down the middle of her neck, chest and
abdomen is missing, exposing a broken column where her spine
should be. Nails pierce her face and body as tears stream down
her cheeks. “I see her as a patient wanting to tell me about her
symptoms, and at the same time I see her advanced knowledge, her
ability to tell me about it as another physician would,” Antelo
says. “Seeing that painting made me want to ask more questions.”
A surgical patholog