Johanna Van Gogh-Bonger: The Woman Who Made Van Gogh Famous

Left: Jo van Gogh-Bonger in 1889 (Photo: Woodbury & Page via Wikimedia Commons, Public domain) | Right: “Self-Portrait, Summer 1887” by Vincent Van Gogh (Photo: Wikimedia Commons, Public domain)

Post-Impressionist painter Vincent Van Gogh has long captivated the public's imagination, but did you know that his success isn't only due to his artistic prowess? In reality, it was thanks to the hard work of one woman that Van Gogh rose to fame and stayed a household name long after his death.

Johanna “Jo” van Gogh-Bonger, the wife of the painter's brother Theo, is the unsung hero of Vincent's success. Born in Amsterdam, her brother introduced her to Theo, who was instantly enamored. The couple married in 1889, and she uprooted her life in the Netherlands to move to Paris with him. Sadly, less than two years later, she became a widow.

Jo was only 28 years old when Theo died just a few months after Vincent. Knowing how much supporting his brother's art meant to him, Jo decided to carry on this legacy. Not only did it bring her closer to her deceased husband, but it was also a means for supporting herself and their child, Vincent Willem, who was only a year old when Theo died.

Jo packed up the Paris apartment, which was filled with Vincent's canvases, and left to head back to the Netherlands. She also took numerous sketches and the hundreds of letters that Theo and Vincent exchanged. At the time, the paintings were of little value, but Jo had been witness to the vibrant art scene that Theo surrounded himself with and knew that she shouldn't leave them behind.

Jo van Gogh-Bonger with son Vincent Willem in 1890 (Photo: Raoul Saisset via Wikimedia Commons, Public domain)

To start, she opened a guest house in Bussum, a village outside of Amsterdam that attracted writers and artists. There, she was able to build her own contacts in the art world and began organizing sales exhibitions of Vincent's work. This created buzz and interest around the late painter, with Jo being strategic in selling his artwork to public collections to get as many eyes on it as possible.

At the same time, she also recognized the value in the letters between the brothers. Convinced that they would demonstrate the genius behind Vincent's work, she began translating them. Before her marriage to Theo, she had worked as an English teacher, which was a great boon to the project, and by the time she died in 1925, she'd translated two-thirds of them.

Though the art world dismissed her at first, she eventually won them over and scored a major victory in 1905. That year, the Stedelijk Museum held the largest ever retrospective of Vincent's work, with over 480 paintings on display. Following the success of the exhibition, the value of Vincent's art skyrocketed.

The Stedelijk exhibition, where she worked on everything from the display to the ticketing prices, also revealed Jo's exceptional organizational skills. These skills came in handy as she continued to not only translate the letters, but categorize and edit them. The letters were published in English just four years after her death and became a critical source for understanding Vincent and his work.

By the time Jo died, she had sold 200 of Vincent's paintings, sacrificing some of her favorites so that they would go into public collections and be seen by millions. Without her dedication to the cause, the world may have never seen Vincent Van Gogh's genius.