The photograph shows an older woman in a bourgeois salon from the beginning of the 20th century. But if you look closely, the paintings that shine on the walls call your attention: in the image, when the lady lived at Koninginneweg 77, Amsterdam, you can see Flowers , by Fantin-Latour, and Vase of Honesty , by Vicent Van Gogh . The lady in question is Johanna Bonger, later Van Gogh, and she was married for just two years to Theo Van Gogh, brother of the painter; yet it is to her that the world owes Vincent’s artistic existence.
The marriage ended most abruptly, when Theo died six months after his brother. But it had been long enough for Johanna to realize that her brother-in-law’s work was exceptional. Born into a bourgeois family of an insurance agent, his wife and seven children, Johanna (1862-1925) had traveled and studied specializing in English, becoming a teacher in the Netherlands when she met Theo, already a renowned art dealer.
With the impetuous character so reminiscent of Vincent’s, the young professional proposed to Johanna after their second meeting, a proposal that was rejected for several reasons, not the least of which was that she was already seeing someone else. Her insistence was rewarded and a year and a half later she accepted, also helped by the pleasant prospect of rubbing shoulders with artists in Paris in the 1920s.
The first meeting between Vincent Van Gogh and what was already his sister-in-law had taken place in the spring of 1881 and had made a strong impression on the young woman: “Before me was a robust man, broad-shouldered, with a healthy complexion, a cheerful in her eyes and somewhat resolute in her appearance,” he wrote in his diary. Vincent was examining the paintings that he had sent them and met his niece, named after him. Months later tragedy struck: Vincent had shot himself. The event affected Theo so deeply that he collapsed. Vicent was 37 years old, Theo 33, Johanna 28 and had no experience in the masculine world of art or in the equally masculine world of business.
Theo’s death found her with a young son in an apartment full of her brother-in-law’s paintings. Theo had believed in his brother, yes, but he had only managed to sell her a few paintings. But the woman who at the age of 17 had written in her diary that “it would seem terrible to me to have to say at the end of my life that I have lived for nothing, I have not achieved anything great or noble”, had already found a cause ten years later to make that the world knew the work of his brother-in-law. Back in the Netherlands, she established a guest house for a living and literally covered the walls with Vincent’s 400 paintings and several hundred drawings.
Following his instinct, he did not get rid of anything, and also following his instinct, he devoted himself to reading the numerous correspondence that the brothers had exchanged to illuminate the work through the knowledge of the man behind the artist, and also again Thanks to his instincts, he realized how important it was that others see the artist in the same light and published the letters, as well as directing their English translation.
Johanna acted following a clever strategy: to publicize the works, but not to sell the best ones, and to hang these next to other lesser ones to increase their value. In 1905 she organized the great Van Gogh exhibition at the Stedelijk, Amsterdam’s most important museum for contemporary art. The time between the two shows had taught him the techniques of what we would call marketing today, and the show became not only a huge success, but the largest ever by Vincent Van Gogh, with 484 works on display; even his son, Vincent, then 15, contributed by writing the invitations.
Over time, it would be this man who would take care of the legacy, and after him his son, also Vincent, Johanna’s grandson, who married again, this time with a painter, Johan Cohen Gosschalk. In 2009 Johanna’s diary passed into the public domain, which her family, lover of discretion, kept if not secret, but avoiding public access, just as her actions to vindicate the painter were not made explicit.
From them, from correspondence and from ten years of research, the historian Hans Luijten built his biography Jo van Gogh-Bonger: The Woman Who Made Vincent Famous. Also the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam now does it justice. Without it, we might not have seen a starry night or the fields and houses of Arles. For that alone, we have to be grateful.
To know more:
‘Choosing Vincent. Portrait of a family history’. Exhibition at the Van Gogh Museum. Amsterdam. vangoghmuseum.nl. Until April 10.
Willem Jan Verlinder. The Van Gogh Sisters. Thames
Hans Luijten. ‘Jo van Gogh-Bonger: The Woman Who Made Vincent Famous’. Bloomsbury editorial