Customer Reviews

To Paint Her Life: Charlotte Salomon in the Nazi Era

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You may have read many memoirs, and biographies about people affected by the Holocaust. However, do not think this is similar to other stories, or be put off by a topic that is upsetting. The journey through this book will be more than rewarding. Mary Felstiner has a deep, historical knowledge of Charlotte Salomon that she relays in a moving, and powerful style. You feel that you intimately know the people she writes about. Salomon's story is not one that is widely known, but it should be. She painted her life story during the Nazi years in the form of an operetta. Her paintings recently on display in the US tell a painful, vivid story of her, her parents, and her lover. This book is about what happened to Charlotte Salomon and her family during the Nazi years, but will also be of great interest to people interested in art, and in the human condition. I cannot recommend it highly enough.

This book is fascinating. It was thoroughly researched, and gives a compelling account of the effects of the rise of the Nazi movement and the slow and excruciating restrictions on the Jews living in Berlin, particularly this one family of the Salomons. Although I studied art history, I had never heard of Charlotte Salomon until a friend told me of an exhibit she'd seen of her work in San Francisco. After learning about her and looking at her very personal paintings, I felt as if I'd discovered the Jewish Frida Kahlo. Like Kahlo, Salomon's work is biographical and very, very personal. Obviously it is not surreal like Kahlos, but still I felt this artist was driven "to paint her life" and left us with a wonderful gift of her work.