diff --git a/python/pyarrow/pandas_compat.py b/python/pyarrow/pandas_compat.py
index c288c7f03a8..743dc0bb62a 100644
--- a/python/pyarrow/pandas_compat.py
+++ b/python/pyarrow/pandas_compat.py
@@ -365,7 +365,11 @@ def dataframe_to_arrays(df, schema, preserve_index, nthreads=1, columns=None):
             nthreads = 1
 
     def convert_column(col, ty):
-        return pa.array(col, from_pandas=True, type=ty)
+        try:
+            return pa.array(col, from_pandas=True, type=ty)
+        except (pa.ArrowInvalid, pa.ArrowTypeError) as e:
+            e.args += ("Conversion failed for column %s" % col.name,)
+            raise e
 
     if nthreads == 1:
         arrays = [convert_column(c, t)
diff --git a/python/pyarrow/tests/test_convert_pandas.py b/python/pyarrow/tests/test_convert_pandas.py
index bdb84c7d6ba..43f46b5cf05 100644
--- a/python/pyarrow/tests/test_convert_pandas.py
+++ b/python/pyarrow/tests/test_convert_pandas.py
@@ -1879,6 +1879,11 @@ def test_mixed_types_fails(self):
         with pytest.raises(pa.ArrowTypeError):
             pa.Table.from_pandas(data)
 
+        data = pd.DataFrame({'a': ['a', 1, 2.0]})
+        expected_msg = 'Conversion failed for column a'
+        with pytest.raises(pa.ArrowTypeError, match=expected_msg):
+            pa.Table.from_pandas(data)
+
     def test_strided_data_import(self):
         cases = []