What a great exploration into the life of Jo and her impact on the love and fame of Vincent Van Gogh today. Vincent is all ways a favorite of my students to explore, and when I share what I learned about Jo’s impact on her career they find it fascinating. Definitely recommend this book.

This ARC is unreadable - the content looks promising, and would welcome a readable version - this response hasn't been posted in Goodreads, only here in NetGalley.

Written well but the formatting wasn't the best for this pre-released arc and I didn't get into it. Realized I never got back to it and figured I should submit a review for what I read. Love the idea just not my cup of tea right now.

Only a week ago I was looking at a lighter kind of art history/appreciation book, that wanted to discover what exactly made a masterpiece – including input from the artist, the subject and the audience response (https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/5240336365). It of course managed to feature a van Gogh. But what it didn't really nail down was that one reason we feature the man in any – ANY – list of master painters of our civilisation, is partly down to his sister-in-law, born Jo Bonger. She was marrying Theo at just the time Vincent, more or less at the peak of his powers, was being more self-harming, and career-damaging, and needing more personal care and attention due to his mental deficiencies. And then lo and behold, months after he dies, Theo goes doolally himself, and Jo is a single mother and widow, and in possession of hundreds of works of art, both in her inheritance and in the estate she's looking after on behalf of Vincent junior, her baby. This shows how diligently, how inexpertly but how doggedly she worked in the light of loving Vincent's talent and in the light of loving Vincent's brother, that she went no end towards making him the world famous name he is.

That narrative may well be all anyone needs to know about things. Some may want more. Some however will hate the fact we here have 500pp more – albeit a huge third is notes, index and so on. But this does seem too forensic and definitive a book for many a taste, and it's no surprise to see the original Dutch edition, from 2019 already, was on behalf of the van Gogh Museum. Either way, this is a must for many a shelf for people who might not realise why the subject deserves their appreciation.

Here is everything to do with the woman – her politics, her growth into understanding of art, first from her patronising sibling and then from the van Goghs and then from sheer necessity. She spoke several languages, so spent many a long evening translating the letters Vincent had sent Theo and trying to get them published, which ran in parallel with considered loans and rare sales to make sure the market value and estimation of the artist went up and up. And yet even now the industry of van Gogh is probably something she would never recognise – except it has to be said that she was the bedrock of it all.

This is very readable for such a rich, detailed book, and there is no earthly way anything better will come to the world in the short time before the centenary of her death, in 2025, and it's doubtful this will be surpassed at all. A lesser creator would make this really quite repetitive – "she wrote this, she sold this, she loaned this" – but this is a lot more enjoyable than the dogged woman's efforts might lead you to believe. Very well produced (even if my review copy didn't come with the Plates sections), it might just leave you wanting to read more about the son she was so intent on catering for, as well. If the author fancies tackling that subject as a sequel and comes out with anything close to this, it will make for a remarkable achievement. Four and a half stars.

This looks interesting but unfortunately the ARC is unreadable on Kindle. I’d be happy to try again if you can send a properly formatted copy.

I read this ARC for an honest review
All thoughts and opinions are mine

I was intrigued by this and so glad I was able to read this
Had no previous knowledge and this is so well researched

loved it

This book on Jo van Gogh-Bonger is a tribute to her as an astute woman who dedicated most of her life to promoting the work of Vincent van Gogh. Her independent spirit gave her the fortitude to do her life's work.
The book covers her early years, her life with Theo, and Vincent's influence on their marriage and her life. It covered the period when she was a single parent to the young Vincent and her tireless work to serve her family and the Art world. Her difficult marriage to her second husband Johan in the second half of her life and her trips to Spain, England, and New York. The dedication with which Jo pursued promoting Vincent's work defies imagination. She worked tirelessly even at the end of her life when she was ill. The book reflects her meticulous note and record-keeping of all the works of art and her efforts in promoting them and sending them to exhibitions. Jo had exceptional business acumen for a woman living in that era and had strong negotiation skills with galleries, art dealers, publishers, and others.
This book would be an excellent reference for those interested in the life and work of this remarkable woman, who made it possible for us to get to know Vincent van Gogh, the artist. It is also a window into what life in Europe and the art world was like during her lifetime. It also gives an insight into the energy required to promote an artist, noticed by the big galleries, and the value of detailed record keeping, which gave Jo a more robust negotiating platform.

I was very interested to read this book when I saw the cover and description.

This book is chock full of information on the life of Vincent Van Gogh’s sister in law, Jo. I have been obsessed with Vincent my whole life. Even named my cat after him!

My issues with this book are that it is such heavy, dry writing that it feels like a chore/homework to read it. I found myself skipping through pages to see the pictures. The book is also 500+ pages. A daunting task for most readers and even more so with the nature of the reading.

And as an ARC, it’s very hard to read the writing with the watermark going over every page.

I think this is a book for someone who is in a historical background and maybe writing a thesis or movie on Jo. Not someone who is interested in learning a little bit more.

After reading about Jo van Gogh-Bonger in books about Vincent van Gogh, her brother-in-law, I was curious to learn more about her. “This biography is about Jo’s tenacity, her boundless dedication and her surprisingly multilayered life,” Hans Luitjen writes in the forward.

Jo is a compelling character, encountered through quotes from her letters and diaries. A dreamy, idealistic, serious girl, Jo read widely and scrutinized herself through a diary, endeavoring to be kind, holding herself to high standards. She longed for love as she also longed to expand her world and embrace freedom. She was an activist in later life.

Jo married Theo van Gogh, Vincent’s brother and art seller. The marriage had its ups and downs before Theo’s early death shortly after his brother’s suicide. Theo had worked to educate Jo in contemporary art, but she had disappointed him. Now, she had control over Vincent’s work. She dedicated herself to promoting his art, getting it exhibited, and selling it. Part of the estate also had to be preserved for her son Vincent.

Jo had met Vincent after the birth of her child Vincent, after he left the asylum. The artist brought the beautiful painting of almond blossoms for the nursery. It stayed in the family.

It was Jo who translated Vincent’s letters into English and sought their publication. It was Jo who saw the first of Vincent’s work go into museums. This month I will see the Van Gogh in America exhibit at the Detroit Institute of Art, which in 1922 was the first museum in America to purchase a Van Gogh.

The author dismisses that Vincent feared that marriage would removed his brother’s financial and emotional support. In a letter, Theo told Jo that his brother “kept urging me to try to marry you.”

The book is filled with details of the provenance of Vincent’s work that art history scholars will appreciate.

I received a free egalley from the publisher through NetGalley. My review is fair and unbiased.

Jo Van Gogh was a visionary. Married to Vincent Van Gogh’s brother Theo, she would become influential in promoting and preserving Van Gogh’s legacy.
Widowed at a young age, (her husband Theo dying within a year of his brother Vincent and the birth of his son Vincent Willem) Jo became in possession of Vincent’s letter, sketches, drawing and paintings. With skill and determination she held firm promoting his paintings in an art world dominated by men. She dedicated her life to organizing exhibitions, the largest showcasing over 400 works, selling to influential buyers and publishing the correspondence between Theo and Vincent. Once Vincent’s fame rose in Europe she set her sights on America, living briefly in New York City and bringing world-wide recognition to her brother in laws art.
Her son Vincent Willem would carry the torch after his mothers death. He established the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam where many of the paintings owned by Jo are on public display.
For all of the talent that Vincent possessed and all of the support emotionally and financially provided by Theo, it is Jo who enriched and enticed the art world with Vincent’s work. Her strength to forge ahead transformed art. The vibrancy of Vincent’s colors, the thickly laid paint of his brush strokes and the depth of his heart displayed in each painting is known, admired and appreciated because of Jo. We can thank Vincent for his body of work but it’s Jo who deserves our gratitude for providing a remarkable legacy.
My thanks to NetGalley, Hans Luijten and Bloomsbury Publishing for an ARC in exchange for an honest book review,

Jo Bonger is fascinating in terms of art history. The wife of Theo van Gogh, she also knew his brother Vincent, who was at the time a little known artist. When tragedy struck and Vincent and Theo died within a year of each other, Jo was left with a small child and a collection of Vincent's work. Jo would go on to make it her mission to introduce Vincent's work to the world, and it is largely due to her efforts that he is as famous as he is. Little is really discussed about her in biographies about the van Goghs, beyond her relationship with the men and her later work to get Vincent's art recognized. This book, clearly written by an expert with a good understanding of Jo and her life, offers a much more comprehensive look at Jo as a person, separate from her famous relations. I thought the book was good, with a lot of good information and great photos, but it did read like an academic paper or thesis, so it was often hard to get through. Writing style aside, this is a great book for anyone looking to learn more about Jo and her life.

The author, Hans Luijten, is a lifelong expert on Van Gogh, his life and his art. He was a co-editor of the complete letters and is a researcher at the Van Gogh Museum (a day's visit to this magnificent collection is by itself worth a trip to Amsterdam). Most people who are knowledgeable about Vincent know to various degrees the role played by Theo's widow, Jo, in leading the world to discover her late brother-in-law's work, and after reading this book you will be VERY knowledgeable. It is wonderfully written and Luijten keeps the reader's interest up, but it is also the ultimate reference book as to what happened to Vincent's paintings, letters, and drawings as well as his family.
Luijten was also involved in editing Jo's letters and diaries, which are available online, and he uses excerpts to bring Jo alive to the reader. She really had a tough life. She grew up in a large middle class Dutch family, the fifth of ten children, and the closeness of the mother to the children appears to have been stifling. Jo's father paid no attention to her and was cold in general. Her early diary entries are full of self-doubt and a commitment to better herself, and yet to the reader it is clear that she was very talented, intelligent, and a loving mother, friend, and spouse. She spent time in England and learned the language, largely by spending much time in the British Museum and studying in libraries. French came a bit harder and when she married Theo, his fluency made her feel inferior in social gatherings. But she learned the language perfectly as well as German. She became a teacher, translator of books and articles, author of poetry and stories, and especially of art criticism at which she excelled.
Her time with Theo was tragically short and he died of syphilis when their son, Vincent, was still a baby. I've always wondered why Theo married when he knew he had a fatal, communicable disease...but now I wonder if he actually knew the severity and chronicity of it. I believe I've read that Theo was taking mercury as treatment (the only treatment then available for STDs) so this remains confusing. The author describes the stages of the disease with contagion being primarily restricted to the early stages, and apparently Jo was never infected.
To support herself and their son, Jo started a boarding house which was labor-intensive to say the least. Her life's commitment remained a total devotion to little Vincent and his well-being, although their relationship was more symbiotic than he would have wanted according to his letters.
Jo later had an affair with an anti-commitment artist which she had to hide from her intrusive family. Later, she married a second time to a psychologically and physically weak painter who died of pleurisy while still in his thirties. These were not happy years for Jo or Vincent.
Perhaps equal to her lifelong to commitment to her son was her well-known devotion to her late brother-in-law's reputation as an artistic genius. His work was for years a subject of ridicule until other post-Impressionists began to break through. Jo began her constant work on his behalf even while still living in the apartment that she had shared with Theo, and she continued through the boarding house years and for the rest of her days.
When she started reading the approximately 860 letters between Theo and Vincent (about two thirds were from Vincent), it was like the proverbial lightning bolt for her. Theo had taught her extensively about art in general and Vincent's specifically, but it was reading the painter's eloquent and brilliant letters telling of his thoughts and emotions and describing specific works and his goals for line, color, and mood. More than anything, Jo realized that these writings would key to the art world knowing and understanding Vincent as a human being and as an artist.
She became possibly the greatest manager and agent for an artist in history. She rarely lowered prices, especially in the beginning when it would have been easiest; keeping prices high reinforced her insistence on the value of the work. The young wife who was so hard on herself and lacking in confidence became of necessity a firm-minded bargainer. It was vital to Jo never to "live off" Vincent's work, but to put away all proceeds for her son's future.
I've barely scratched the surface of the stories told in this book. It obviously will be of primary interest to lovers of Van Gogh's art, but as a tale of its times, early feminism, single parenthood, and many other things, it shines.

Sorry I can’t read this book because it has letters over every page and It’s not readable like this for me