When Johanna (Jo) van Gogh married Theo van Gogh at the age of 27, her life seemed to be headed toward stability, but it would not last long. Theo, an art dealer and the brother of the troubled painter Vincent van Gogh, was already suffering from terminal syphilis. Although their relationship was filled with love and hope for starting a family, their happiness was short-lived. Despite having a child, fate played a cruel hand.
In 1890, Vincent, Theo’s tormented brother, took his own life, leaving the family devastated. Only six months later, Theo also succumbed to his illness, leaving Jo a widow with a young child to raise. On top of her emotional pain, Jo inherited not just the grief of loss but also a legacy few would have known how to manage: more than 400 paintings by Vincent, an artist considered a failure during his lifetime. At that time, Van Gogh had sold only three paintings and was regarded as a mediocre painter, almost unknown in the art world. The idea that his work could be anything more than a sad memory seemed unthinkable.
However, Jo refused to give up. Instead of viewing those paintings as a burden, she saw them as an opportunity to share Vincent’s talent with the world. She sold their apartment in Paris, where she had lived with her husband, and moved to a village in the Netherlands 🇳🇱, where she turned her home into a boarding house to support herself financially. But beyond the practical need, Jo embarked on a personal mission: to restore her brother-in-law’s reputation and make his work known.
