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Johanna Bonger van Gogh (1862–1925)
We love Johanna for saving the art.
Johanna Bonger van Gogh Excerpt From: Wikipedia From the age of seventeen she kept a detailed diary, which was to become a source of much information about Vincent van Gogh. At the age of twenty-two she became a teacher of English at a boarding school for girls at Elburg, later teaching at the High School for Girls at Utrecht. About this time, while in Amsterdam, she was introduced by her brother Andries to Theo van Gogh, brother of Vincent. One of the Van Gogh sisters described her as "smart and tender". Theo and Johanna were married in Amsterdam on 17 April 1889. Their son Vincent Willem, was born on 31 January 1890. Following Theo's death in January 1891, Johanna was left a widow with her infant son to support. She was left with only an apartment in Paris filled with a few items of furniture and about 200 then valueless works of her brother-in-law Vincent. Although advised to dispose of the pictures, she instead moved back to the Netherlands, opened a boarding house in Bussum, a village 25 km from Amsterdam, and began to re-establish her artistic contacts. She had not kept her diary during her marriage, but resumed it, intending that her son should read it someday. After the death of Vincent and her husband, she worked assiduously on editing the brothers' correspondence, producing the first volume in Dutch in 1914. She also played a key role in the growth of Vincent's fame and reputation through her donations of his work to various early retrospective exhibitions. She wrote a Van Gogh family history as well. She initially worked closely with German art dealers and publishers Paul Cassirer and his cousin Bruno to organize exhibitions of Van Gogh's paintings in Berlin and in 1914 to publish the first volume of the Letters to Theo. Publication of the letters helped spread the compelling mystique of Vincent van Gogh. Word of the intense and dedicated painter who suffered for his art and died young, spread throughout Europe and the rest of the world. What we can learn from Johanna 1. Art must be saved from the trash. 2. Documentary information must be saved and available to the art community. 3. Art must be distributed to institutions and collectors capable of archival care and respect. What we can learn from the van Gogh example 1. Art thought to be worthless in it's time, may be a cultural treasure to later generations. 2. Art thought to be worthless in it's time, may be a vast economic treasure to the artist's family, home town, nation, and world art community. Links: Smithsonian JOHANNA: The Other Van Gogh Memoir of Vincent van Gogh |