I just finished reading the book Mrs. Van Gogh by Caroline Cauchi.
At the Museum of Modern Art in New York with Van Gogh's Starry Night
I've had the privilege of seeing Van Gogh's work in different museums I've visited and when I was in Paris last summer I took a tour where we stopped outside the apartment where Vincent Van Gogh lived with his brother Theo from 1886-1888.
The Good Samaritan by Vincent Van Gogh- Wiki Art
Lately, I've been looking in detail at a painting Van Gogh did of the Good Samaritan Story in the Bible for a course I'll teach this fall.
So I approached the book Mrs. Van Gogh with a great deal of interest. I wanted to learn more about the Van Gogh family.
The real Johanna Bonger Van Gogh at the time of her marriage in 1889 - photo from Wikipedia
Mrs. Van Gogh is a creative fictional biography of the life of Johanna Bonger Van Gogh wife of Vincent Van Gogh's brother Theo.
After both men die she inherits all of her brother-in-law's paintings and through her hard work and tireless efforts brings them to the attention of the public. Without her probably most of us would never have heard of Vincent Van Gogh.
I photographed Van Gogh's painting The Olive Garden on a visit to the Nelson Atkins Museum in Kansas City
Although Vincent died penniless, thanks to his sister-in-law Johanna, and later her son named Vincent after his uncle, and her grandson Johan, Vincent's works now sell for tens of millions of dollars.
Author Caroline Cauchi admits that she has largely fictionalized the lives of the Van Goghs and I guess I wondered why she didn't make her characters more likeable then. They are difficult, highly troubled people, who have complicated and often violent relationships with one another. I found it hard to become emotionally attached to them.
Johanna Van Gogh with her son - photo from Wikipedia
In reading about Johanna Bonger Van Gogh online I discovered many interesting things about her that were not mentioned in Mrs. Van Gogh.
I thought some of these intriguing details about Johanna's life and relationships might have enlivened Cauchi's book whose pace I found somewhat slow. I also wasn't sure I appreciated the way Cauchi chose to frequently jump out of the narrative and tell so much of the story through fictionalized letters and diary entries.
Letter from Vincent Van Gogh to his brother Theo in the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam
I guess I wondered too since Johanna's own diaries, and the letters between Theo and Vincent Van Gogh have been meticulously preserved why author Cauchi decided to make up her own.
Although I can't really say I 'enjoyed' Mrs. Van Gogh, I am not sorry I read it because it piqued my interest in Johanna Bonger Van Gogh which led me to do a great deal more research about her on my own. For an excellent historical summary of her life and how her role in Vincent Van Gogh's rise to fame came about I'd recommend this interesting feature in the New York Times.
Other posts............
Imagine Van Gogh- Thumbs Up or Down?
Visit to the MOMA
Paint By Number
No comments:
Post a Comment