No artist, no matter how solitary by nature, becomes a cultural phenomenon alone. That’s even true of such an isolated figure as Vincent van Gogh, whose death in obscurity at the age of 37 left open the question of who, if anyone, would vouchsafe his paintings to posterity. The support of the artist’s younger brother Theo is often given a good deal of credit for making his work possible, and not without reason. What’s somewhat less widely known is that Theo, who’d long been in poor health, died less than a year after Vincent’s suicide. The work of ensuring the latter’s legacy then fell to the former’s widow Johanna Bonger — or perhaps she understood that if she didn’t steward it, nobody else would.
As Cindy Poh explains in the Newsthink video above, Bonger inherited a great many of van Gogh’s works and stored them away while devising a plan to make them famous. Practically going door-to-door — and sometimes, it seems, literally going door-to-door — she stayed engaged with the late Theo’s art-world contacts. She cut sweetheart deals with museums and even donated artworks outright, increasing their chance of public exposure. She organized exhibitions everywhere from Paris to Berlin to London to New York, the most pivotal being one held at Amsterdam’s Stedelijk Museum in 1905. The 484 works put on display made it the largest van Gogh show in history, a record it still holds today.
At that time, well before The Starry Night and Sunflowers adorned coffee mugs in suburban households the world over, van Gogh’s art could still shock some critics with its unconventionality. Others, however, showed signs of the enrapturement that Bonger must have suspected would one day be possible. Thinking strategically, she preferred to sell fewer pieces for higher prices, preserving the value of his work and limiting its availability on the market. After her second husband’s death, she redoubled her dedication to the art that had become her life’s mission, even translating and publishing the hundreds of letters he’d left behind, most of which were sent to Theo. We’ve heard many artists described as married to their work, a cliché that applies well enough to Vincent van Gogh himself. But to be married to one’s brother-in-law’s work is a rarer thing indeed — and sometimes a more important one.
Related content:
1,000+ Artworks by Vincent Van Gogh Digitized & Put Online by Dutch Museums
Vincent Van Gogh’s The Starry Night: Why It’s a Great Painting in 15 Minutes
A Complete Archive of Vincent van Gogh’s Letters: Beautifully Illustrated and Fully Annotated
Behold the Newly-Discovered Sketch by Vincent van Gogh Sketch, “Study for Worn Out” (1882)
Discover the Only Painting Van Gogh Ever Sold During His Lifetime
Based in Seoul, Colin Marshall writes and broadcasts on cities, language, and culture. He’s the author of the newsletter Books on Cities as well as the books 한국 요약 금지 (No Summarizing Korea) and Korean Newtro. Follow him on the social network formerly known as Twitter at @colinmarshall.