Lee Miller in Hitler's Bathtub

A Tale of Two Women and a Few Insignificant Men

Lee Miller. Photographer (war) and journalist, top model, cover girl and alcoholic. Abused, despised, adored and rejected. And then this one picture appeared: “Lee in Hitler's bathtub.” What was Lee thinking when she entered Hitler's apartment and decided to wash herself in the devil's bath? The show opens with a scene in which Lee stands in front of Hitler's bathtub in smelly clothes, still saturated with the stench of death from Dachau.

Lee Miller leads the viewer through a stream of thoughts about photography, his own body and beauty, which were often seen as ordinary objects. She describes war paintings, her struggles with horrors and her workshop in search of beauty and authenticity, absurd thoughts about Hitler and his wife Ewa Braun, Parisian encounters with avant-garde artists, her relationship with Man Ray, the violence she experienced, her father, who photographed her from an early age, and the nightmares that haunt her.

The performance is not a biographical portrait of her, but describes the key moments of her life, creates an image of a woman who remains in the shadow of many famous and infamous men. Jan Lauwers wanted to create a portrait that would no longer be a portrait of Lee, but a portrait of the many women in art history who had their lips gagged.