She breaks the white
to fragments of eternal hues,
never caring
if they match the draperies of absent suns;
she ceased to care about horizons
to gaze above for verticals
to climb,
escape from the gilded cage
of its false embrace.
For the prize of fame
the room is broken by the brush
her life on canvas
changed from body, flesh and blood
into broken pigments, oil
and owned
Frantisek Kupka
Today it is dVerse OLN with a live session on Saturday with Lillian hosting. We are given an extra prompt with the painting “Madame Kupka between verticals”. I am sorry for imagining a story between the two paintings, The picture was created by painting over an earlier painting of his wife.
His wife was named Eugénie Straub before she became Mme Kupka. They were married around 1910 around the same time as the second painting was painted. She is one of his most frequent models, but except that there is nothing more to be found through internet search.
Frantisek was a pioneer in the abstract movement, and I can really feel that transition in the second painting where his wife is painted over with his last name.
January 15, 2026
Björn Rudbergs writings 
“the room is broken by the brush” – what a brilliant line to denote the representational into this abstract
Thank you… I reflected a lot on the image.
THANK YOU, Bjorn for doing some research on this painting and the artist. I had no idea the story behind the painting and this makes is all the more interesting! I love that you’ve penned between the two portraits to tell the story here. LOVE it!
It was a little bit research but also a lot of imagination based on the portraits and timeline.
You don’t need to apologize. I wondered about her, too. Thank you for sharing both paintings. So many interesting lines here.
“the room is broken by the brush” stands out to me.