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Jo van Gogh-Bonger's diaries and letters shed light on her life
The Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam has recently made public biographical details from Jo van Gogh-Bonger's diaries and letters.
Biographical details from Jo van Gogh-Bonger's diaries and letters have recently been made public by the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam. The material offers a view of the determined woman whose life forms part of the story behind Vincent van Gogh's artistic legacy.
Jo married Vincent's younger brother, Theo, an art dealer in Paris who provided Vincent's only income. Theo paid a monthly allowance in exchange for paintings to market and sell, an arrangement that placed emotional strain on both brothers.
Jo also inherited hundreds of letters, most exchanged between Vincent and Theo. She initially reread them to feel closer to Theo, then decided to share them publicly. Her promotion plans included exhibitions and outreach to critics; in 1914, she published Vincent's letters in three volumes.
Her handling of The Starry Night included selling it early and briefly reacquiring it for an Amsterdam exhibition she organized in 1905. Listed there as De Sterren, or The Stars, it changed hands twice more before MoMA acquired it in 1941.