Vincent Van Gogh

The painter of Sunflowers
December 16, 2024

  • This insight will be looking at the mastermind behind the National Gallery’s acquisition of Vincent Van Gogh’s Sunflowers

     

    JOHANNA VAN GOGH-BONGER

  • Johanna van Gogh-Bonger, photographed in 1889

  • “The sunflower is mine”

    Vincent once declared. To the artist, these cheerful flowers offered multiple meanings.

     

    It was no accident that Vincent van Gogh became known as the painter of sunflowers. He was drawn to floral still lifes in part as a means of experimenting with colour, having been struck by the bright, fresh palette of the Impressionists during his brief time in Paris, but he was also aware that floral still lifes were appealingly commercial.

  • When we speak of Van Gogh’s sunflowers, we talk of more than one painting. In total, Vincent painted seven versions...
    Vincent van Gogh, Sunflowers, 1888
    oil on canvas, 92.2 x73 cm.
    National Gallery, London
    When we speak of Van Gogh’s sunflowers, we talk of more than one painting. In total, Vincent painted seven versions over the course of six months stretching between 1888 and 1889. One is in a Japanese private collection and another, formerly privately owned, was sadly destroyed during a World War II bombing campaign – along with other priceless artworks.The remaining five are in museum collections, in London’s National Gallery, the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, the Neue Pinakothek in Munich, the Philadelphia Museum of Art and the Sompo Museum in Tokyo.
  • Joanna van Gogh-Bonger (pictured right) is not a household name, but without her efforts and dedication, it is likely that...

    Johanna (Jo) van Gogh-Bonger (1862-1925) and baby son (Vincent Willem), April 1890

    Joanna van Gogh-Bonger (pictured right) is not a household name, but without her efforts and dedication, it is likely that ‘Vincent van Gogh’ would be no more familiar to us. Joanna was the widow of Vincent’s beloved younger brother Theo. The couple had been together for less than two years when Theo died in 1891, less than six months after Vincent, and the bewildered young woman found herself heiress to hundreds of Vincent’s paintings, with a baby son – named Vincent Willem, in honour of his uncle – who needed care and provision. She was only 28 at the time.
  • “All of this... is very satisfying for me, for it’s the only thing that I can do in the memory of my husband and of Vincent.”

  • It had always been a wish of Theo’s that the public would come to appreciate Vincent’s paintings, so Jo set out to honour her late husband’s wish. In 1905, Joanna achieved a remarkable success, organising a retrospective exhibition of over 480 artworks at Amsterdam’s Stedelijk Museum. She oversaw every detail of the organisation, and funded the project herself, in an effort that certainly paid off.

     

    Unsurprisingly, prices for his paintings rose dramatically after the show. Not content to rest, Jo, who had studied English, then embarked on a monumental project, translating Vincent’s letters from Dutch into English. At this point, Joanna redirected her promotional efforts, focusing on Van Gogh’s reputation in Britain and America, where he had yet to become a familiar name.

  • Interior of house at the Koninginneweg 77 in Amsterdam, where Jo Van Gogh-Bonger lived
  • At the same time, Jo was working as a self-taught dealer, and between 1891 and the end of her life,...
    Vincent van Gogh, Sunflowers, 1889
    oil on canvas, 95 x 73 cm.
    Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam
    At the same time, Jo was working as a self-taught dealer, and between 1891 and the end of her life, she sold nearly 200 of Vincent’s paintings. One of the most significant and memorable of these sales took place towards the end of her life: the sale of the Sunflowersto the National Gallery in London. By 1923, Jo still retained two of the Sunflowers paintings, which were among her favourite pieces. She realised, however, that the sale of a painting to London’s National Gallery would help introduce Vincent’s work to a broader English-speaking audience and, hopefully, entice a publisher to take on her translation project. The version she sold to the museum was the one painted in August 1888 for Gauguin’s bedroom in the Yellow House, and the version she kept – the copy made by the artist in 1889 – is now in Amsterdam’s Van Gogh Museum. According to scholar Hans Luijten, author of Jo’s biography, Jo relinquished the best version to the museum so that the public could see Vincent’s talent at its peak.
  • Following Jo’s death, her son Vincent transferred all the paintings by his uncle that were still owned by the family...

    Johanna Van Gogh-Bonger’s letter to Charles Aitken, Director of the National Gallery, London

    Following Jo’s death, her son Vincent transferred all the paintings by his uncle that were still owned by the family to a foundation in order to make them permanently accessible to the public. Vincent was also one of the founders of Amsterdam’s Van Gogh Museum.


    I am delighted that after years of indifference from the public towards Vincent and his work, to feel that the battle has been won.

    Joanna Van Gogh-Bonger

  • As specialists in handling artworks by Van Gogh please get in touch if you would like assistance with the sale,...
    James Roundell pictured at Christies in 1987, looking at van Gogh’s Sunflowers,
    January 1889
    Private Collection
    As specialists in handling artworks by Van Gogh please get in touch if you would like assistance with the sale, purchase, or valuation of an artwork by Vincent.

     

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