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Book 26 of 2025

Life? Or Theatre? by Charlotte Salomon

5 stars

One of the most unique and moving works of art I've ever experienced. Charlotte Salomon was a Jewish woman who had to leave art school and flee Nazi Germany to live with her grandparents. Then she discovered that her mother, aunt, and grandmother all died by suicide, which instantly reconfigures her self-perception and memories of her childhood.

While in France, Charlotte spent at least two years making over 1,200 gouache paintings as she processed her grief, interspersed with autobiography and musical cues. These were overlayed with transparencies with additional text, giving an unusual effect as seen in the third picture.

I related so deeply to Charlotte's anguish and dread upon learning of her family history with mental illness. And it was comforting to see her realize that contemplating death and creating urgent art from emotional impulse can be …

An open book. On the left page is a painting with uneven black text in German. The English translation above contains the beginning of the Epilogue of Life? Or Theatre? On the right is an impressionistic painting depicting seven different versions of Charlotte Salomon painting. There is also a line of human figures on the upper half of the painting.
A painting of Charlotte Salomon as a child in bed with her mother. Overlaid on the painting is a transparency which partially obscures the painting and dulls the colors. German text on the transparency layer relates a story in which Charlotte's mother was depressed and told her daughter she wanted to become an angel because heaven is more beautiful than life on Earth. Some of the text is in blue and red paint looping in strange shapes over the painting. More writing is written in pencil at the bottom.
A painting showing three different versions of Charlotte Salomon painting in a blue dress. The painting is heavy on blue tones, including a blue chair, blue flowers, and blue clothing. There are spots of yellow, notably a large sunflower in the lower right corner.