The article explores the complex relationship between beauty and degradation as well as the shock and morbid fascination both cause when being presented simultaneously. This exploration is carried out on the basis of the detailed analysis of Adela Legarreta Rivas is run over (1979), one of the most well-known photographs of Enrique Metinides (Mexico, 1934). This photograph, an iconic piece given its composition and reception in the visual tradition, portrays the body of a woman. A cleanly presented body, without the obvious and common marks of trauma caused by a tragic death, in compliance with feminine beauty standards, whose image is studied here in the light of the apparent contradiction between the form and the object of visual articulation.