Charlotte Salomon Paints Her Life: A Novel

by Pamela Reitman

Charlotte Salomon Paints Her Life

Inspired by the life and work of Charlotte Salomon, this novel shows an artist intent on pursuing her art against all odds. As a young German-Jewish art student at The Berlin Art Academy during Hitler’s rise to power in 1938, Charlotte’s first place prize is denied because she is a Jew, her enrollment annulled. After Kristallnacht, she is sent from Berlin into exile with her grandparents.

When Charlotte’s grandmother leaps to her death, her Old World grandfather shocks her with the family secret, a legacy of female suicides. She struggles against her grandfather’s insistence that suicide, not art, is her destiny too.

Haunted by the encroaching terror of the Third Reich and the threat of psychological disintegration, Charlotte clings to her determination to become a serious modernist painter, to complete her monumental work “Life? Or Theater?” and get it into safekeeping in a race against time before capture by the Nazis.

392 pages, Paperback

Published April 15, 2025

Reviews

[Sesili · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jako mi je lepo ovo bilo, moram reći.

Zašto mi se svidela: jasno je da je reč o istorijskoj fikciji, ali je dobro istražena tema. Fino je sve portretisano: i rat, i ludilo u porodici, i odnos s majkom i dedom.

Šta mi se nije svidelo: moglo je da bude i kraće.

Veoma hvala ovom ljubaznom sajtu Edelweiss I Sibylline Press-u.

[Sue Saperstein · Rating 5 out of 5]

Pamela Reitman is a remarkably painterly writer of the artist Charlotte Salomon’s inspiring life. As a psychoanalyst who has treated incest for decades, I can attest that she has been able to transmit quite precisely the quality of this character's “possession," which accompanies being the victim of generational incestuous trauma. Charlotte is “possessed” by her need to paint her experience, regardless of the extremely adverse conditions (imprisoned/hiding/ trapped) amidst the cultural antisemitic hatred she is forced to confront at the beginning of the Nazi extermination of Jews in France.

While imprisoned, she painted, when she was trapped with her cruel and perverse grandfather, she painted, when she hid, she painted. Her paintings seem to paint her, to have an autonomy that demanded the enlivened inscriptions of her profound experiences.

The relationships Reitman has drawn are compelling: the early beloved mentor, her father, her stepmother, her lover/husband, the American woman who offered shelter to Jews and to Jewish children. The project of sheltering children and rehoming them was especially heartbreaking but is also inspirational. Charlotte’s devotion to her family, its traumatic incestuous and suicidal history that shadow her, are accurately rendered by the author’s speculative vision and quite illuminating of the disturbed attachment patterns that are created by generational incestuous trauma. She painted her valiant efforts to gain freedom. The most meaningful of all statements she makes in this writing ( for me) was when her new husband asks her if her “new family” was not worth the risk of her singular chance to deliver her manuscript of paintings and possibly be caught and killed:
“Art endures,” is her response. That appears to be the truth.

Thank you, Pamela, for writing Charlotte’s life for us – and so, art endures.
--Sue Saperstein, MFT, Psy.D.

[Susan Tunis · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting book about an interesting woman, but God do I hate reading about the Holocaust. Adding a truly heinous incest element to this true story didn't make it more pleasurable.

[Patricia M · Rating 5 out of 5]

"To make sense of suffering" This is how Simone Wiel guided her life. And also how Charlotte Salomon found her way through the same difficult, dangerous times. CHARLOTTE SALOMON PAINTS HER LIFE by Pamela Reitman tells the painter's story as Hitler comes to power. After Kristallnacht,
November 9-10, 1938 her family sends her away from Berlin to safety. In the first pages she is on a train leaving Germany for Paris, crossing the border, fearing her behavior will reveal her staus as a fugitive. She remembers her mother's instruction: Act, like in the theater, in a play. Pretend. she does and enters France...to safety in Nice - for a while.
Reitman is skilled in conveying to the reader Charlotte's impulse to paint, her need to paint the events of her life, and brings us along in the rhythm of Charlotte's hand as she paints as she paints her childhood bed, left behind in Berlin. She paints the bed, herself, and the suitcase waiting on the bed, The more than 1000 pieces she called LIFE ? OR THEATER ? takes the reader through her life. Those years ending in 1938 - 1943 made it a dangerous, fraught journey yet there is love and friendship for her. It is a life well worth reading about - then go to the internet and see the pictures of Charlotte's life.

[Naomie Barnabas · Rating 5 out of 5]

Powerful, poignant, and deeply inspiring, Charlotte Salomon Paints Her Life is a beautifully crafted tribute to a courageous artist who defied despair and darkness with unyielding creativity and hope.

[Susan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow! I read this stunning novel weeks ago but couldn’t figure out how to post a review. Now, with my daughter’s help, here it is. READ this book! A combination of deeply researched history and gorgeous prose, Pamela Reitman tells the real life story of WW 2 artist, Charlotte Salomon. The writing is mesmerizing. Reitman plunges the reader into Charlotte’s world, her mind, her family history, and her glorious paintings. Reitman paints with words-her descriptions of the way Salomon saw color are unlike anything I have ever read. So vivid! Her storytelling illumines this highly individualistic story—and reminds us that each of the 6 million has a story worth telling, Charlotte’s life, her struggle against an abusive grandfather, and the struggle to survive the Nazi reign of terror, a struggle she ultimately lost at Auschwitz, deserves the spotlight Reitman creates. A young woman shaped by family and political trauma, Salomon was also blessed with a burning talent. Look up Salomon’s work and you will see why Reitman was motivated to tell her story. Salomon’s life and this novel illustrate the artist’s way—under circumstances of great psychic distress. Thank you, Pamela Reitman, for introducing me to Charlotte Salomon.

[Genevieve Ruesch · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.25 ⭐️
I had no idea about Charlotte Salomon until reading this book. What an incredible artist and woman. This book was so well written, particularly the internal and external tension Charlotte experienced, and each character was truly compelling. Tough read but so well done.

[Lorraine Devon Wilke · Rating 5 out of 5]

I found this story, a stunning work of fiction inspired by the very real, vibrant, and haunting life of Charlotte Salomon, to be beautifully written and absolutely breathtaking.

A young Jewish painter exiled from her native Germany at the onset of Hitler’s rise to power, Charlotte finds herself in a beautiful estate in France surrounded by other expats, including her two grandparents, who unfortunately turn out to be demanding and irrational people. Their expectation that she take care of them forces her to move into a much-too-small domicile nearby, where she desperately seeks to find places and times to paint while dealing with their growing demands. The creeping abuse of her grandfather, who seems hell-bent on tormenting his wife, as well as his granddaughter, to death... comes to literal fruition when Charlotte’s grandmother throws herself out of a window.

Charlotte ultimately learns the dark legacy of the women in her family who, it turns out, were all abused by this predatory man, leading them to their own deaths of despair, a family story that not only devastates her, but begins to inform the subject matter of her paintings.

An extraordinarily talented and passionate artist, she is determined, driven, to chronicle her life with the art she creates, aware that it might be all that’s left of her and her story at the war’s end. As she and her compatriots deal with the growing threat of the Nazis, as well as, in her case, the continued predation of her grandfather, she’s forced to repeatedly relocate, hide, and cover her tracks, all while doggedly putting paint to paper.

One of the most compelling elements of this story is how the author describes the almost poetic dance of Charlotte’s painting process, the movements, the thoughts, the inspirations and ideas that flow through and out of her mind, into her hand, onto whatever paper she can find. This is described in such unique, mesmerizing fashion, I was captivated, and could actually picture those works of art.

As life churns, and somewhere in the midst of encroaching danger and relentless threats, Charlotte finds love, friendship, and moments of true joy, giving her hope that they will somehow be allowed sto endure and survive the danger that surround them, leaving her and her beloved husband to raise their coming child. The ending of their profound story is told in the epilogue, and I will not spoil it here.

Author Pamela Reitman has delivered such a powerful, beautifully articulated novel that after finishing it I was immediately inspired to do more research on the life of Charlotte Saloman; I can think of no greater compliment to give an author than that!

A very high recommend.

[Reader · Rating 5 out of 5]

Pamela Reitman’s compelling novel is based on the life and work of Charlotte Salomon, the German Jewish painter who died in Auschwitz in 1943 when she was just 26 years old. After the Nazis came to power, Charlotte was sent to the South of France to live with her grandparents, who had already escaped there. The novel covers the years that Salomon lived in hiding near Nice, first from the Vichy government and then from the Nazi occupation. Reitman tells the story of Charlotte’s struggles with depression, of her abusive grandfather, of her lack of food, and of the claustrophobia of her life in hiding. She also writes of the generous people who helped Charlotte, and of the man, another Jew in hiding, whom Charlotte loved and married.
Most of all, the novel shows us Charlotte’s deep commitment to her painting, which she managed to continue even in the most difficult circumstances. She risked her life to paint, and it was painting, in turn, that gave life back to her.
Reitman writes with both passion and compassion, bringing Charlotte to life again. The close-up scenes, like scenes in a film, are written with an immediacy that made me feel I was right there in those cramped living quarters with Charlotte.
The title of the book is appropriate, because Charlotte really did paint her life, especially the tragedies. Hundreds of Charlotte’s drawings and paintings survived her, and they continue to move viewers in museums and exhibits.
The book is well researched, and, along with Charlotte’s story, I learned a lot about Vichy France, about the deportation of Jews from southern France, and about the difference between German and Italian fascism, among other things.
The essentials of Charlotte’s life are true, but the book is called a novel because the history that is known is skillfully filled out with fictionalized dialog, scenes and characters. The use of the novel form makes it possible for the reader to identify with Charlotte. We hear what she is thinking, and we come to know her intimately. Her courage is inspiring.
Reitman’s novel is particularly relevant in this troubled time, when anti-Semitism and other kinds of intolerance are on the rise.
I highly recommend Charlotte Salomon…
Art is life-giving, art refuses to buckle.

[Anna Citrino · Rating 5 out of 5]

What an engaging book! I didn’t previously know of the artist Charlotte Salomon, but Reitman brings her story and world to life in a way that deeply resonates with our own times. Reitman deftly weaves together Salomon’s artistic imagination and creative drive to tell her story through her paintings with the effort to survive as fascism spreads across Europe. All around her Salomon sees people being snatched off the street and carried away to uncertain locations. Repeatedly she flees her home for safety. Reitman brings forward the immense emotional and psychological and physical stresses of survival Charlotte Salomon undergoes, as well as the astounding support people give each other even in the most dire situations when circumstances made it seem doing so would be impossible. “I am a woman among women. I, too, am life.” Charlotte states at one point in the book.
Charlotte Salomon Paints Her Life is also a testament to the artist’s struggle to affirm her own worth and define her path in the social context of other female family members who felt they had to live with sexual abuse and “play-act as though nothing happened.”
“Yes. She refused her destiny. Even here alone, in exile with war raging on the continent and without vision of the future, still there remained vision—beauty in the world, nearly unbearable, and tenderness in living, hardly endurable, both holding her fast to the promise that she could retrieve life itself from this inheritance. What she had not witnessed, she would remember and make manifest in shape and color.”
An immense amount of research went into writing this book in order to bring Charlotte Salomon’s story vividly alive and with such resonance. In a world that promotes the idea that empathy and tenderness toward fellow humans is to be shunned, Pamela Reitman’s Charlotte Salomon Paints Her Life affirms the beauty’s ability to help us hold a mirror to our current era and as well as a vision that restores and calls us toward our best selves. Charlotte Salomon Paints Her Life is a powerful and important story for our times.

[Rebecca Rosenberg · Rating 5 out of 5]

This powerful novel immerses the reader in the extraordinary life and unwavering artistic spirit of Charlotte Salomon. Against the terrifying backdrop of Hitler's rise to power, we witness Charlotte's fierce determination to pursue her art despite the escalating antisemitism that strips her of opportunity and forces her into exile. The author masterfully portrays the injustice she faces, from the blatant denial of her artistic achievements to the looming threat of Nazi persecution.

The narrative takes a poignant turn as Charlotte grapples with a devastating family secret and the oppressive expectations of her grandfather. Her struggle against the shadow of suicide, juxtaposed with her passionate commitment to her modernist vision, creates a compelling and deeply moving tension. The novel beautifully captures her internal battle and her defiant act of choosing creation over despair.

Knowing this story is inspired by the real Charlotte Salomon and her monumental work "Life? Or Theater?" adds a profound layer of significance. The author skillfully weaves together historical context and personal narrative, making Charlotte's race against time to complete and safeguard her masterpiece before the Nazi regime closes in utterly gripping.

This is more than just a historical novel; it's a testament to the enduring power of art, the resilience of the human spirit, and the importance of bearing witness. "Charlotte Salomon Paints Her Life" is a beautifully written, emotionally resonant, and ultimately unforgettable story that will stay with you long after you turn the final page. A truly exceptional read.

[Deborah · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Inspired by the life and work of Charlotte Salomon, this novel shows an artist intent on pursuing her art against all odds. As a young German-Jewish art student at The Berlin Art Academy during Hitler’s rise to power in 1938, Charlotte’s first place prize is denied because she is a Jew, her enrollment annulled. After Kristallnacht, she is sent from Berlin into exile with her grandparents.

When Charlotte’s grandmother leaps to her death, her Old World grandfather shocks her with the family secret, a legacy of female suicides. She struggles against her grandfather’s insistence that suicide, not art, is her destiny too.

Haunted by the encroaching terror of the Third Reich and the threat of psychological disintegration, Charlotte clings to her determination to become a serious modernist painter, to complete her monumental work “Life? Or Theater?” and get it into safekeeping in a race against time before capture by the Nazis."

WWII and Jews. Add to that a legacy of female suicides, and it became difficult to read.

[Giovanna · Rating 5 out of 5]

What an engrossing read! Such a beautifully written, well-researched, riveting story that Pamela Reitman has given us. We know before we start what finally happens to Charlotte Salomon, the young German Jewish artist, sent by her family into exile from Berlin to France in 1939. But there is much that we don’t know. Using a wide range of sources, Reitman weaves a compelling story of what has been documented about Salomon’s life and work with a deep understanding of Vichy France, and incorporates the spirit of Salomon’s magnum opus, Life? Or Theater? that consisted of over 700 semi-autobiographical modernist paintings, many accompanied by text and music. Throughout her exile in the south of France, Reitman’s character painted with an intensity and a furor, in order make sense of her life, which included a history of suicides and sexual abuse in her family, and to resist the increasing onslaught of the Third Reich, with a drive to create a masterpiece that would outlive her.

[Kate W · Rating 5 out of 5]

Part Bildungsroman, part Jewish history, part an investigation of one woman's struggle to come to terms with the legacy of incest in her family, Charlotte Salomon Paints Her Life satisfies on every level. As the world around Charlotte marches ceaselessly toward the Holocaust and WW2, Charlotte - like any young woman - focuses on her own aspirations and emotions while we, as readers, want to yell at her to LOOK OUT. The dangers aren't merely external. Poor Charlotte isn't safe with her own family members, and she isn't even entirely safe in her own thoughts. Yet through it all, she remains compelled by and comforted by her art and cheered by the love and support she finds with friends and lovers. A moving story about the damage family and society can do and how the act of creating can save us.

[Diane Schaffer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Building upon a large body of research, Pamela Reitman has brought to life a brilliant artist whose life was taken by the Nazis when she was only 26 years old. (Reitman offers a large bibliography on her website.) Using her well-informed imagination, Reitman has woven a fictionalized telling of Salomon's story, covering the years of Salomon's exile in southern France, 1938-1943. During this period, Salomon produced over a thousand paintings while caring for a stunningly sadistic and abusive grandfather--and coping with an ever-advancing threat of extermination.
I was deeply moved and inspired by this story. I would recommend it to everyone interested in the personal stories, the courage and inspiration, of great artists.

[Nancy Sheldon · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a deeply moving and engaging book. In it, we follow the life of Charlotte Salomon, a Jewish artist growing up in the turbulent times in Europe as Fascism rises and Jews are being systematically restricted and denied rights.
The novel is a window into the development of Charlotte as a passionate artist and the unfolding of her romantic inclinations and sense of duty to her family. The women in her family are under the cloud of a dark secret. Many strands intertwine as Pamela Reitman’s captivating prose brings us into Charlotte’s heart as she struggles to come of age as a woman and artist. It is a deeply moving story and I found this book to be a treasure. Read it.

[Heather · Rating 5 out of 5]

Evocative and moving, this gorgeous novel is perfect for fans of historical and literary fiction. In Reitman's talented hands, Charlotte Salomon comes to life, immediately capturing our attention and hearts as she doggedly pursues her art in the face of seemingly insurmountable obstacles. With a firm grasp of the relevant history, Reitman immerses us in the time period with perfectly-placed details and captivating drama. From page one I was swept along for the glorious ride, anxious to discover what destiny awaits Charlotte. --Heather Bell Adams, author of The Good Luck Stone

[Jane Swigart · Rating 5 out of 5]

Pam Reitman has written an extraordinary novel that delves into the mysterious ways trauma can be transformed into art. By recreating the life of the painter, Charlotte Salomon -- her experience of being a Jew in France under the Nazis while living with her monstrous grandfather, Reitman explores how the artist's strength, spirit and genius turned her suffering into artistic work that expresses the depth and breadth of the human heart. I recommend this incredible book to every serious reader.

Jane Swigart

[Ellen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Pamela Reitman's compelling historical novel brings Charlotte Salomon and her world to life. We can see and feel Charlotte's emotional turmoil, her enormous struggles and her relentless passion to express her artistic self as she paints the light and darkness of her life for what she hopes is posterity. Reitman's descriptions, like Charlotte's paintings, are beautifully infused with color and movement. I loved this book! I couldn't put it down.

[Janey Skinner · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fascinating life, told with an eye toward color and imagery, suited to the story of an artist. I got caught up in the character and even knowing how her life ended, I wanted to see her through, a portrait of fragility and strength.

I did not like the epilogue added at the end, myself.

[Karen · Rating 5 out of 5]

A beautifully well written fictionalized account of the life of Charlotte Salomon, a German-Jewish artist who documented her own struggles during WWII through her work. A must-read for fans of historical fiction centered on strong women.

[Barbara V · Rating 5 out of 5]

A powerfully written tribute to the endurance of art and the human spirit

[Birgitta Hjalmarson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Turning to extensive research, but even more to the transforming power of art, Reitman imagines a world where everything is real, one both painted and lived. Her novel is an enduring testimony to the human spirit and our ability to pull through.

[J · Rating 5 out of 5]

A beautifully written and deeply moving novel, this book captures the unwavering dedication of artist Charlotte Salomon as she races against time to complete her life’s work. Despite the devastating themes—generational trauma, sexual violence, and the horrors of the Holocaust—the storytelling is vivid, bringing both the beauty of the landscapes and the brutality of history to life. I felt as though I was there with her, immersed in the beauty of her painting and the horror of enduring the unimaginable.

I highly recommend this book to anyone who appreciates historical fiction that explores the resilience of the human spirit, the power of art, and the pursuit of creative expression against all odds. Lessons in determination and resilience abound. A stunning debut by Reitman.

[Abbe · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was introduced to Charlotte Salomon’s art when I was a late teen. For many reasons, it resonated deeply with me and I could not parted from the book, and it traveled with me to college where I sadly lost track of it. Last spring I got an email from a local book store that was having an author talk: Pamela Reitman and this book. The hairs stood on end all over my body when I saw the title and the cover picture, Charlotte’s self portrait. I ordered the book right away and have now read it twice. There are many holes in what is historically known about Charlotte and I found Reitman’s story fascinating. Her descriptions of how Charlotte was able to transform her trauma into beauty was wonderful. Reitman happens to live nearby. I was able to contact her and she graciously came to my book group just a few days ago. We had a lively, fascinating discussion. I was able to purchase a used copy of my long-lost art book, Charlotte Salomon: A Diary in Pictures, and it was wonderful to see her paintings as we talked.

[Ann Pomper · Rating 5 out of 5]

in Charlotte Solomon Paints Her Life, Pamela Reitman masterfully intertwines the personal and historic, offering readers a compelling story of the life of Charlotte Solomon during the Nazi encroachment and control of France in World War II. The book shines in its solid research of the historical context as well as details of the technique and style of Charlotte's paintings and passion. This reader was inspired by Charlotte's determination and ability to paint through both personal and social horrors. Pamela's deft writing allows the reader to see, experience and feel horror and the beauty of painting a life side by side.

[Elise Menashe · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved loved loved this book. A gripping story of the discovery of family secrets, of survival and of becoming an artist.