“Life or theatre?” the title of Charlotte Salomon's exhibition intrigued me. I had expected a series of abstract paintings, reflecting on the changing nature of theatre. What I saw, instead, was a real-life, tragic story. The exhibition, held last month at the Goethe-Institut, Max Mueller Bhavan, was about Salomon's life.
Arranged chronologically, from Salomon's birth to death, “Life or theatre?” comprises a series of paintings that reveals the joy and suffering Salomon experienced during her lifetime. Earthy colours such as browns, greens and reds pervade her works, interspersed with comments. The method of painting she used is known as gouaches. A gouache is a combination of opaque water colours and a certain kind of gum, lending a surreal effect to a painting.
“Life or Theatre?” consists of 1,325 gouaches, which were painted by Salomon between 1940 and 1942. It is believed that Salomon, through these paintings, projected her life into an imaginary inner stage, in which she transformed her true story into a lyrical drama. The original exhibit is on display at the Jewish History Museum, Amsterdam.
I found myself absorbed by the stories each image told, enabling me to imagine Salomon's life. Salomon was born in 1917 to a Jewish family. In 1933, following the rise of the Nazis in Germany, she escaped to her grandparents' estate in Southern France in 1939.
But The Gestapo arrested her in 1943 and deported her to Auschwitz, where she was murdered.
Before her arrest, Salomon gave her works to her friend, requesting him to keep it safe as it was “C'est toute ma vie!” (It's my entire life).
Born into a wealthy family, her father was a surgeon and her mother a singer, Salomon had a happy childhood. But following the tragic events in her life, she grew increasingly reticent, developing a wisdom far beyond her years. Hardship notwithstanding, she never lost her zest for life, and held on to her ideals till the end of her life.
