Johanna van Gogh-Bonger

Johanna Gezina van Gogh - Bonger ( born October 4, 1862 in Amsterdam, † September 2, 1925 in Laren ( Noord-Holland ) ) was a Dutch art collector and sister of Vincent van Gogh. As the wife of Theo van Gogh in 1891, she inherited the estate of Theo and Vincent van Gogh. By organized exhibitions and published the correspondence of the brothers van Gogh, she made known internationally the work of Vincent van Gogh.

Life

The daughter of insurance agents Hendrik C. Bonger studied English and worked for several months in the library of the British Museum in London. At 22, she became a teacher of English at a girls' boarding of Elburg. Later she taught at the Higher School for Girls in Utrecht. Through her brother Andries, who had gone to finishing school to Paris and had there made ​​friends in artistic circles, among others, Odilon Redon, she met Theo van Gogh, whom she married in 1889. After his death in 1891, she returned with their son Vincent Willem and a large collection of images to the works of Adolphe Monticelli and Paul Gauguin, but especially the posthumous works by Vincent van Gogh belonged to Bussum in Holland back. Advice, to part with this collection of largely unknown artists, they refused. Your livelihood, she contested, among others, as the operator of a guesthouse and translator from French and English. 1894 she joined the social democratic SDAP, in her brother Willem Adriaan Bonger was active. 1901 she married the painter Johan Cohen Gosschalk ( 1873-1912 ). 1903 the family moved to Amsterdam.

With the aim to make the work of Vincent van Gogh known, Johanna Bonger organized carefully selected exhibitions, which they financed partly self. A highlight was a funded by their major exhibition at the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam in 1905, on the 457 works of van Gogh shown and 2000 visitors were counted. Already 1901/2 had Bruno and Paul Cassirer organized a first Van Gogh exhibition in Berlin. With the help of Paul Cassirer found exhibitions among others in the Secession in Munich and Berlin as well as in the Folkwang Museum in Hagen (1912). Van Gogh's works were the focus of the Cologne Special League Exhibition 1912. After a first exhibition in the United States in 1913 followed by the end of the First World War more successful exhibitions in Paris, New York and London. From 1916 to 1919 Johanna Bonger lived with her son in New York.

The importance Johanna Bongers in popularizing the art of Vincent van Gogh is first seen in the fact that they could almost have the entire oeuvre of the artist. They maintained contacts with art dealers, but had to sell paintings for financial reasons. Therefore, they could charge high prices and control the sales. In fact, they deliberately did not sell some of the best works, but let them only show in exhibitions. So they held a collection of family ownership, which should form the basis of the Amsterdam Van Gogh Museum later.

Johanna Bonger collected, arranged, and also edited the correspondence between Theo and Vincent van Gogh ( 1914) and got also an English edition. A first selection was published in 1906, Bruno Cassirer. The publication of the letters made ​​a significant contribution to the great fame of van Gogh. Bongers biographical introduction coined it the perception of Vincent van Gogh as a lifetime unrecognized genius. Later Bongers editorial practice has been criticized, as she had edited only a selection of all the exchanges.

Writings

• Kort geluk: en postage knew ling tussen Theo van Gogh en Jo Bonger. Van Gogh Museum. Waanders, Zwolle 1999.
• Vincent van Gogh. Brieven aan zijn Broeder. Uitgegeven s toegelicht door zijn schoonzuster J. van Gogh - Bonger. , Amsterdam, 1914. Vincent van Gogh. Letters to his brother. From the Dutch translated by Leo Klein - Diepoldsberg. Cassirer, Berlin 1914.
• Vincent van Gogh. Letters to his brother. From the Dutch translated by Leo Klein - Diepoldsberg, from the French by Carl Einstein. Cassirer, Berlin 1928.