The autobiographical series Life? Or Theatre? consists of 769 individual gouache paintings produced in the south of France between 1941 and 1943. Created by Charlotte Salomon while in hiding from the Nazi regime, this extensive visual narrative stands as one of the most significant artistic documents to emerge from a victim of the Holocaust.
Early Life in Berlin
Born in 1917, Salomon was raised in a prosperous Berlin household. Her father, Albert, served as a surgeon. Her mother, Franziska, died when Salomon was a young child. Following the 1933 rise of the Nazi party, Salomon witnessed the tightening of anti-Semitic policies within the German Reich. Despite these restrictions, she enrolled at the Berlin University of the Arts in 1936. She maintained her studies for two years before the political climate forced her departure from the institution.
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Following the events of Kristallnacht in 1938, her father was briefly interned at Sachsenhausen concentration camp. Seeking safety, Salomon moved to Villefranche-sur-Mer, France, to live with her grandparents near the villa of Ottilie Moore. Her time in France was marked by recurring personal tragedy, including the suicide of her grandmother. After being interned by French authorities at a camp in the Pyrenees known as Gurs, she was eventually released due to her grandfather's fragile health. She subsequently suffered a nervous breakdown and was advised by a local physician to pursue painting.
Composition of Life? Or Theatre?
Residing at the pension La Belle Aurore in Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat, Salomon began her ambitious project. She composed more than one thousand gouaches over two years, eventually editing and refining the collection into 769 pieces. The work employed a lyrical, multi-disciplinary approach, incorporating text, musical cues, and character pseudonyms. She described the series as a Singspiel, or song-play, documenting her own history alongside her intense relationship with Alfred Wolfsohn. The work reflects the tension of her existence, as she weighed the decision to end her own life against the urge to document it.
Final Months and Legacy
In 1942, Salomon poisoned her grandfather with a veronal omelette, an act later detailed in a 35-page confessional letter. In 1943, she married fellow refugee Alexander Nagler. Anticipating her capture, she entrusted her work to a local doctor, requesting it be delivered to Ottilie Moore. Shortly thereafter, Salomon and Nagler were apprehended by authorities and transported to the Drancy internment center. At five months pregnant, she was deported to Auschwitz II-Birkenau in October 1943, where she was killed upon arrival.
Fast facts
- Born: 1917, Berlin
- Died: 1943, Auschwitz II-Birkenau
- Primary medium: Gouache painting
- Notable work: Life? Or Theatre?
- Movement: Expressionism
- Education: Berlin University of the Arts
- Status at death: Five months pregnant
Questions readers ask
What is the subject of Life? Or Theatre?
It is a fantastic autobiography detailing Salomon's life, family suicides, and her experiences during the Third Reich.
How was the work preserved?
Salomon entrusted the series to a doctor in Villefranche, who passed it to Ottilie Moore; it reached the artist's family in 1947.
Achievements
- Notable work: Life? Or Theatre?
- Movement: Expressionism
