Why can karyotyping be carried out only on cells about to divide?

When a cell is about to divide, the chromosomes have
coiled and thickened and are visible. At other times in the cell's life cycle, they are
not able to be visualized. A cell can be arrested during cell division by applying
colchichine. The chromosomes are stained, usually with Giemsa stain. When preparing a
karyotype, a cell's 23 pairs of chromosomes are microphotographed and a chart is made
with the chromosomes arranged by size and position of centromeres for pairs 1 through
22. The 23rd pair is the sex chromosomes which are either XX or
XY.