- Born
- DiedOctober 10, 1943 · Auschwitz-Birkenau Concentration Camp, Oswiecim, Malopolskie, Poland (murdered in gas chamber)
- Charlotte Salomon was born on April 16, 1917 in Berlin, Germany. She was a writer, known for Charlotte, 'vie ou théâtre?' (1992), Charlotte (2021) and The Story of Ottilie Moore. She died on October 10, 1943 in Auschwitz-Birkenau Concentration Camp, Oswiecim, Malopolskie, Poland.
- She is primarily remembered as the creator of an autobiographical series of paintings Leben? oder Theater?: Ein Singspiel (Life? or Theater?: A Song-play), the largest known artwork made by a Jewish person who died in the Holocaust, consisting of 769 individual works painted between 1941 and 1943 in the south of France, while Salomon was in hiding from the Nazis.
- She was the stepdaughter of the opera singer Paula Salomon-Lindberg.
- Charlotte Salomon came from a prosperous Berlin family. Her father, Albert Salomon was a surgeon; her mother, Franziska (Grünwald), sensitive and troubled, committed suicide when Charlotte was eight or nine, though she was led to believe her mother died from influenza.
- Salomon experienced a nervous breakdown that stemmed from her grandfather's revelations and her disgust for him. The local doctor, Dr. George Morridis, advised her to paint.
- In February 2015, the Musiktheater im Revier (MiR) in Gelsenkirchen presented a ballet-opera by Michelle DiBucci based on life and work of the artist. Its title was Charlotte Salomon: Der Tod und die Malerin ("Death and the Painter"); it was choreographed and directed by Bridget Breiner. Again the autobiographical work Life? or Theater? formed the basis for the dramatization. DiBucci was originally commissioned to compose an opera on the life and work of Salomon by director Marie Zimmermann [de] for the 2010 Ruhrtriennale. The work was not completed due to the death of Zimmermann in 2007. Several years later, DiBucci was approached by choreographer Bridget Breiner and asked to adapt the work into a full-length ballet. Charlotte Salomon: Der Tod und die Malerin was the winner of a 2015 Der Faust, Germany's highest honor in theatre. Bridget Breiner received the award for Best Choreography.
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