The Woman Who Made van Gogh

April 28, 2021 11:48 PM

Neglected by art history for decades, Jo van Gogh-Bonger, the painter’s sister-in-law, is finally being recognized as the force who opened the world’s eyes to his genius. NYT (Paywall)/Archive.org
posted by ellieBOA (6 comments total)

My google skills arent as good as many here, so I've looked but not found anything about some of Van Gogh's portraits were using photographs as a base, a way to help him see what he might not otherwise see. Seems I recall seeing (somewhere, and almost certainly from the 'net somewhere) side by side photographs and paintings which used photos. Anyone else read about that?

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It's really fun to see, you're in some museum, and you can get right close to the paintings; I love to step up close to Cézanne's paintings, for example, which look 3D but from right up close are totally flat, the illusion is magic. So I can get right up on any/all of these amazing paintings. But I've never been in a museum where I could get close to Van Gogh's paintings; they have small railing around them, to keep people from getting close to them. Best I can figure is that it's because first thing I want to do is reach out and touch them, and apparently I'm not the only person who would want to reach out and touch Van Gogh's paintings. He really was great.

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See also: The Woman Who Brought Van Gogh to the World
From Smithsonian Magazine, 2010

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A great find, ellieBOA -- thx for posting it here.
posted by dancestoblue at 2:51 AM on April 29, 2021 [1 favorite]

The Van Gogh museum had a great recent exhibition on the letters between Vincent and Theo.

It was not only great to see the original handwriting but also Vincent would draw sometimes a sketch of an idea he had for a painting. In the exhibition, they included the finished painting right next to the letter.

There was something human about seeing the actual letters. They are a bit wild, with small writing sometimes turning corners at the edge of a postcard. A fact I don't see often mentioned is that Theo and Vincent wrote to each other in Dutch of course but also there is correspondence entirely in French or in English! They just moved back and forth between languages too which is surprising in personal notes of this sort. And the letters are so affecting. It is clear the two brothers were close and deeply loved each other.
posted by vacapinta at 3:13 AM on April 29, 2021 [5 favorites]

That's interesting, vacapinta, I didn't know that about Vincent and Theo. I am bilingual and when I communicate with my siblings, I we do switch languages frequently as well. Sometimes depending on the subject matter, and sometimes the mood, English can be jokey in a different way, or have a slightly different vibe to it than Afrikaans. I wonder if there's a similar pattern in the van gogh letters.
posted by Zumbador at 5:06 AM on April 29, 2021

I should say all three of them (Vincent, Theo, Jo) loved each other deeply. Here is the beginning of one of Vincent's letters from the archive. (this one was written in French)

Dear brother and sister,
Jo’s letter was really like a gospel for me, a deliverance from anguish which I was caused by the rather difficult and laborious hours for us all that I shared with you.1 It’s no small thing when all together we feel the daily bread in danger, no small thing when for other causes than that we also feel our existence to be fragile.2
Once back here3 I too still felt very saddened, and had continued to feel the storm that threatens you also weighing upon me. What can be done – you see I usually try to be quite good-humoured, but my life, too, is attacked at the very root, my step also is faltering. I feared – not completely – but a little nonetheless – that I was a danger to you, living at your expense – but Jo’s letter clearly proves to me that

1v:2 you really feel that for my part I am working and suffering like you.
There – once back here I set to work again – the brush however almost falling from my hands and – knowing clearly what I wanted I’ve painted another three large canvases since then. They’re immense stretches of wheatfields under turbulent skies, and I made a point of trying to express sadness, extreme loneliness.4 You’ll see this soon, I hope – for I hope to bring them to you in Paris as soon as possible, since I’d almost believe that these canvases will tell you what I can’t say in words, what I consider healthy and fortifying about the countryside.

posted by vacapinta at 7:07 AM on April 29, 2021 [6 favorites]

Thank you for posting this as "NYT (Paywall)/Archive.org," ellieBOA.
posted by doctornemo at 8:22 AM on April 29, 2021 [1 favorite]

You're welcome, it was thanks to Going To Maine's MeTa that I felt comfortable posting NYT links again!
posted by ellieBOA at 9:37 AM on April 29, 2021 [2 favorites]