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Defying the Nazis: The Jewish masterwork painted in hiding

16 March 2018

Charlotte Salomon was a German-Jewish artist who in the 1940s created a remarkable 769 paintings in under a year, whilst in hiding from the Nazis. At a time of widespread interest in her work, we present some of her paintings and the incredible story behind her secret masterpiece.

Charlotte Salomon (left) and one of the many goaches from Life? Or Theatre? (right, detail) | Photograph: Collection Jewish Heritage Museum, Amsterdam. Painting © Charlotte Salomon foundation. Charlotte Salomon®. Courtesy of Taschen.

Charlotte Salomon's magnum opus Leder? Oder Theater? (Life? Or Theatre?) is an incredible series of paintings, created during the Second World War. Yet her work focuses on familial abuse and tragedy over the horrors of the Holocaust.

Being a young Jewish woman, Salomon was forced to flee Nazi Germany in her early twenties, and was sent to live with her grandparents in the South of France. However, far from being a place of safety, there is evidence to suggest her grandfather was sexually abusing her.

After her grandmother committed suicide in 1939, her grandfather revealed that many other loved ones in Salomon’s life had committed suicide, including her mother, and this knowledge weighed down on her. She turned to painting to cope with her depression, driven by "the question: whether to take her own life or undertake something wildly unusual".

Charlotte Salomon with her grandparents in Villefranche, 1939 | Collection Jewish Heritage Museum, Amsterdam

Following her release from Gurs concentration camp in France she worked relentlessly creating the hundreds of paintings that would become Life? Or Theatre?, under the knowledge that the Nazi hunting parties would destroy it all if discovered.

Her solution was to hide her masterwork with a friend, saying “Keep this safe, it is my whole life.” In 1943 she was caught and sent to Auschwitz concentration camp. She was 26, and five months pregnant, when she was murdered in the gas chamber.

Her father survived the war, and Life? Or Theatre? made it to him in 1947. It was over a decade until her family showed it to anyone, eventually sharing it with Otto Frank after he brought Anne Frank’s diary into public consciousness.

Daberlohn’s reflections on art. Gouache from: Life? or Theatre? | © Charlotte Salomon Foundation, Amsterdam. Charlotte Salomon ®. Courtesy of Taschen

Unfortunately, this work has remained largely obscure for much of its existence, as its artistic merit was overshadowed by the incredible story of its creator.

Life? Or Theatre? consists of 769 paintings created over the course of a year. To put this into context, art historian Griselda Pollock told Front Row that “Van Gogh spends 10 years and produces something like 850 paintings and this is somebody who produces 769 paintings and 15 text pages in under a year, we can understand some kind of urgency.”

Many modern critics consider it a form of graphic novel, as the hundreds of images feature recurring characters, and are overlaid with text, combining to tell one visual epic story.

With influences from musical theatre, German cinema and the work of Michaelangelo it is part autobiography and part fantasy, although it is unknown what falls into each realm. It begs the audience to ask what is real?

Whatever the answer to that, what cannot be denied is her place in art history as a trailblazer and creative powerhouse. Here we present a series of images from Charlotte Salomon’s incredible work.

Charlotte’s mother Franziska dreaming of a life in heaven with her daughter | © Charlotte Salomon Foundation, Amsterdam. Charlotte Salomon®. Courtesy of Taschen.
Charlotte’s stepmother Paulinka bows at the end of the opera Orpheus and Eurydice | © Charlotte Salomon Foundation, Amsterdam. Charlotte Salomon®. Courtesy of Taschen

Charlotte Salomon's legacy

The full collection

All images of Salomon's paintings presented here are courtesy of Taschen, to tie in with their recent publication Charlotte Salomon: Life? or Theatre? A Selection of 450 Gouaches by C. E. Judith Belinfante and Evelyn Benesch.

The photographs on this page come courtesy of the Jewish Historical Museum, Amsterdam. The full series Life? or Theatre? was donated to the museum in 1971, and is currently on display as part of a Charlotte Salomon exhibition until 25 March 2018.

All of Salomon's paintings and writings from Life? or Theatre? are available to view digitally on the Jewish Cultural Quarter's website.

The artist painting, her gaze fixed on the sea | © Charlotte Salomon Foundation, Amsterdam. Charlotte Salomon®. Courtesy of Taschen
Self-portrait | © Charlotte Salomon Foundation, Amsterdam. Charlotte Salomon®. Courtesy of Taschen
Charlotte and Daberlohn. | © Charlotte Salomon Foundation, Amsterdam. Charlotte Salomon®. Courtesy of Taschen
Figure of Charlotte’s grandmother seen from behind | © Charlotte Salomon Foundation, Amsterdam. Charlotte Salomon® .Courtesy of Taschen
Charlotte’s first journey to the Bavarian mountains | © Charlotte Salomon Foundation, Amsterdam. Charlotte Salomon®. Courtesy of Taschen
Daberlohn reflecting on the importance of experiencing life | © Charlotte Salomon Foundation, Amsterdam. Charlotte Salomon®. Courtesy of Taschen
"Suicide of an eighteen-year-old! Charlotte seeks death in Lake Schlachtensee!" | © Charlotte Salomon Foundation, Amsterdam. Charlotte Salomon®. Courtesy of Taschen.
Charlotte’s conflict with her drawing teacher | © Charlotte Salomon Foundation, Amsterdam. Charlotte Salomon®. Courtesy of Taschen.
Charlotte and her fellow student Barbara walking home from the academy | © Charlotte Salomon Foundation, Amsterdam. Charlotte Salomon®
Daberlohn as a reclining figure | © Charlotte Salomon Foundation, Amsterdam. Charlotte Salomon® Courtesy of Taschen
“Dear God, please don’t let me go mad.” The pictorial composition and figurative language of this gouache express Charlotte’s inner despair. | © Charlotte Salomon Foundation, Amsterdam. Charlotte Salomon®

Charlotte Salomon and the Theatre of Memory by Griselda Pollock is published by Yale University Press. Listen to Front Row's discussion featuring the author.

Life? or Theatre? by Charlotte Salomon is on display at Amsterdam's Jewish Historical Museum until 25 March 2018, and is available to view digitally at their website.

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