Christian Boltanski came to prominence in the 1980s with major exhibitions at the Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris in 1984 and the Whitechapel Gallery, London in 1990. This text explores his art, arguing that it hovers between the trauma of the extermination camp depot and the redemption of a memorial shrine. Boltanski can be described as an alchemist, philosopher, potential suicide, clown or Rasputin. His work has ranged from the creation of an 'ironic museum of the self' to sensitive portrayals