After his death, she inherited a generous sum of money and moved to Vienna bringing a camera she received from a Minneapolis artist, Louis Sweet.

Suspicious that she might be attempting to fake her own death, the Department of Justice sent officials to her funeral who verified that hers was the body in the coffin.

Pauline describes photography as “The harmony of composition and naturalness of pose provided by my lens allow for a superior initial drawing of my subject.

As I proceed with my brush, the detailed features and character of the sitter are infused in the painting.” Pauline was at the forefront of a trend where the romanticism of painting and the reality of photography started to profoundly influence one another.

Events in her personal life at the time were strongly related to her ultimate decision to utilize the camera as her exclusive artistic tool.