The Great Woman behind Vincent - Jacqueline Rutten at TEDxAmsterdamWomen

Jacqueline Rutten, the Head of Corporate Development at the Van Gogh Museum, tells a story about Theo's wife Johanna van Gogh-Bonger. Thanks to Johanna, we know so much about Vincent's life today.

They're feeling sorry that I don't have a tattoo.
For first I'm not --

I would like to take you back to 1887.

There is a young man in front of the door
of a woman, here in Amsterdam.

He has only seen her three times
during the past two years.

Her name is Johanna Bonger.

I think I have to show a picture of her.

Here she is.

He has only seen her three times,

but he already knows
that he's madly in love with her,

and wants to spend
the rest of his life with her.

She's an English teacher, but
unfortunately she has a secret love.

And she says no,

and this guy goes back
in the train to Paris disappointed,

where he lives
with his artist brother Vincent.

However destiny:
one year later they meet again in Paris.

She is single, and the artist has left
to the south of France.

And they fall in love,
and to make a long story short,

marry on 18 April '89.

And a happy life in Paris starts.

They meet a lot of friends and --

her ideal was a life full
of intellectual stimulation, a social life

with friends around her
who were all working for a good cause.

And they have a baby a year later
and name him Vincent,

after the uncle
and uncle Vincent is tremendously happy.

And he sends "The Almond Blossom",
representing new life as a baby gift.

So you can imagine that it's a tragedy
when uncle Vincent dies a year later,

in 1890.

And Theo, who was not only his brother
but also his best friend,

is heartbroken.

He has supported Vincent during his life,
he has encouraged him.

And so he becomes ill and he dies
half a year later.

And this young woman, Johanna Bonger
is suddenly left alone

and has to make a living
with her little boy.

And she does so by starting up

what we would call now
a bed-and-breakfast in Bussum,

where a lot of artists will stay,

who will become later
a part of her network.

And she works as a translator,
but she also starts to continue the work of Theo.

And she starts to approach museums,
and galleries

and giving works in consignments
in order to promote the work of Vincent.

She also starts to type out
all the letters of Vincent.

And you can imagine no computers,
an old typewriter, that was a tremendous job.

She is watching all the refuse
about exhibitions on Vincent,

and commenting on them,
and trying to build her network in the art world.

And in the beginning
she's looked at with suspicion:

she's a woman, she's not an art historian,
she has no experience,

but she reads a lot, she learns a lot
and she's a really good negotiator.

So, she gains her respect in the art world.

And, when the first exibition is a fact,
she really has some power in the art world,

which is here in Amsterdam
in the Panorama Room.

Followed in 1905,
in the Stedelijk Museum -- our neighbors --

with a real large exhibition,
over 400 works.

And this is very well received.
This time she does not have to beg again,

at the galleries and museums,
they will now come to her.

And large exhibitions will follow
in London and Germany.

We know that she was not only in it
for the money,

because sometimes art traders
would advise her to sell for a lower price,

in order to sell more.

Instead of that,
she raised the price. (Laughter)

So, her son would later call her
very independent woman.

And I think, she really was.

Well, she loves to travel,
she speaks four languages,

so she follows her son to Spain,
where he lives,

and later on to New York.

Then she starts to translate
the letters in English.

By the time she dies in 1925,
she has translated

562 of all the letters from Vincent to Theo
and vice versa.

And in 1914, she has published
the letters to his brother,

together with a biography,

which is still very useful
for our research today.

Well, I wanted to say,
but as Sylvana has said, that

without her,
we probably would not have been here today.

And Vincent might not be
as famous as he is today.

I should point that.

And I would like to share
a few words that have been put

by the two directors
of the World Library on her grave:

faithfulness, devotion and love.

And I believe that if we carry those with us,
we will also succeed.

Thank you.
(Applause)