In the early years of World War II, Charlotte Salomon—a 23-year-old Jewish artist from
Berlin—fled to the south of France where she shut herself into a hotel room and
spent two years feverishly painting the history of her life. She called it Life? or Theater?:
A Play With Music, an astounding body of over 1,300 powerfully
drawn and expressively colored gouache paintings conceived as an operetta on
paper. Salomon used images, musical cues, dialogue and commentary to tell a
compelling coming-of-age story set amidst increasing Nazi oppression. Shortly
after completing Life? or Theater?,
the pregnant 26-year-old was transported to Auschwitz and killed. Her singular
creation and only major work survived and stands as a testament to Salomon’s
life and artistic vision.
This
exhibition of nearly 300 paintings from Life? or
Theater? offers a rare, first-hand opportunity to witness
this amazing masterpiece.
