Married and mother of seven children, Helene Reimann was a shoe merchant and led a peaceful and harmonious life. However,
her mental state deteriorated, and she was admitted in 1938 for schizophrenia, shortly before the Nazi program to exterminate the
mentally ill (Aktion T4) was implemented. She escaped this fate by being hidden at one of her daughter’s homes.
In 1949, she was admitted to the psychiatric hospital in Bayreuth, where, withdrawn, she spent most of her time drawing. In her
drawings, she focused on everyday objects: shoes, dresses, animals, furniture, flowers, and fruits. For many years, she had to
hide her drawings under her pillow to protect them from the hospital staff, who systematically discarded them.