Charlotte Salomon
Painter (1917-1943) Germany

Charlotte never became a grandmother, but her short life deserves to be told as she knew how. Born into a Jewish family in Berlin, Charlotte was a brilliant art student during the rise of National Socialism and demonstrated a privileged talent. In 1938, she had to flee with her grandparents to France, where her grandmother committed suicide. At that moment, her grandfather revealed to her that her mother had also committed suicide, as had two of her aunts and a cousin: the women in the family were all committing suicide. This truth was a true cataclysm for young Charlotte. To cope with this fate, she began to paint obsessively. In less than two years (1940-1942), she created "Life? or Theater?" (Leben? oder Theater?), a complex work that blends theater, painting, and music. A dazzling journey in which she recounts the experiences of her life up to that point in a series of 1,325 exceptional paintings. This dedication to her work allowed her to regain mental balance and saved her life, at least for a time, as she and her husband were arrested in 1943. Charlotte, who was five months pregnant, ended up in Auschwitz and was probably gassed on the day of her arrival.