WEBVTT

00:00:10.983 --> 00:00:15.775
They're feeling sorry that I don't have a tattoo. 
For first I'm not --

00:00:16.823 --> 00:00:20.464
I would like to take you back to 1887.

00:00:20.464 --> 00:00:24.236
There is a young man in front of the door 
of a woman, here in Amsterdam.

00:00:24.328 --> 00:00:28.301
He has only seen her three times 
during the past two years.

00:00:29.285 --> 00:00:32.006
Her name is Johanna Bonger.

00:00:32.006 --> 00:00:36.803
I think I have to show a picture of her.

00:00:38.095 --> 00:00:39.965
Here she is.

00:00:40.027 --> 00:00:41.367
He has only seen her three times,

00:00:41.367 --> 00:00:43.799
but he already knows 
that he's madly in love with her,

00:00:43.799 --> 00:00:46.385
and wants to spend 
the rest of his life with her.

00:00:46.385 --> 00:00:51.027
She's an English teacher, but 
unfortunately she has a secret love.

00:00:51.027 --> 00:00:52.326
And she says no,

00:00:52.326 --> 00:00:56.576
and this guy goes back 
in the train to Paris disappointed,

00:00:56.576 --> 00:01:00.441
where he lives 
with his artist brother Vincent.

00:01:00.441 --> 00:01:03.351
However destiny:
one year later they meet again in Paris.

00:01:03.351 --> 00:01:08.223
She is single, and the artist has left 
to the south of France.

00:01:08.223 --> 00:01:10.329
And they fall in love,
and to make a long story short,

00:01:10.329 --> 00:01:13.519
marry on 18 April '89.

00:01:13.519 --> 00:01:16.831
And a happy life in Paris starts.

00:01:16.831 --> 00:01:19.531
They meet a lot of friends and --


00:01:20.388 --> 00:01:25.447
her ideal was a life full 
of intellectual stimulation, a social life

00:01:25.447 --> 00:01:30.279
with friends around her 
who were all working for a good cause.

00:01:34.172 --> 00:01:37.144
And they have a baby a year later 
and name him Vincent,

00:01:37.144 --> 00:01:40.950
after the uncle
and uncle Vincent is tremendously happy.

00:01:40.950 --> 00:01:45.391
And he sends "The Almond Blossom",
representing new life as a baby gift.

00:01:47.900 --> 00:01:51.792
So you can imagine that it's a tragedy
when uncle Vincent dies a year later,


00:01:51.792 --> 00:01:53.836
in 1890.

00:01:54.990 --> 00:01:57.905
And Theo, who was not only his brother 
but also his best friend,

00:01:57.905 --> 00:02:00.225
is heartbroken.

00:02:00.225 --> 00:02:04.911
He has supported Vincent during his life,
he has encouraged him.

00:02:04.911 --> 00:02:07.945
And so he becomes ill and he dies
half a year later.

00:02:07.945 --> 00:02:11.143
And this young woman, Johanna Bonger
is suddenly left alone

00:02:11.143 --> 00:02:13.814
and has to make a living 
with her little boy.

00:02:13.814 --> 00:02:15.778
And she does so by starting up

00:02:15.778 --> 00:02:19.717
what we would call now 
a bed-and-breakfast in Bussum,

00:02:19.717 --> 00:02:22.640
where a lot of artists will stay,


00:02:22.825 --> 00:02:26.130
who will become later 
a part of her network.

00:02:26.699 --> 00:02:31.488
And she works as a translator, 
but she also starts to continue the work of Theo.

00:02:31.704 --> 00:02:35.223
And she starts to approach museums, 
and galleries

00:02:35.223 --> 00:02:39.502
and giving works in consignments
in order to promote the work of Vincent.

00:02:39.502 --> 00:02:42.842
She also starts to type out 
all the letters of Vincent.

00:02:42.934 --> 00:02:48.687
And you can imagine no computers, 
an old typewriter, that was a tremendous job.

00:02:48.687 --> 00:02:52.978
She is watching all the refuse 
about exhibitions on Vincent,

00:02:52.978 --> 00:02:58.664
and commenting on them, 
and trying to build her network in the art world.

00:02:58.664 --> 00:03:01.378
And in the beginning 
she's looked at with suspicion:

00:03:01.378 --> 00:03:05.769
she's a woman, she's not an art historian,
she has no experience,

00:03:05.769 --> 00:03:10.439
but she reads a lot, she learns a lot
and she's a really good negotiator.

00:03:10.439 --> 00:03:13.356
So, she gains her respect in the art world.

00:03:13.356 --> 00:03:18.784
And, when the first exibition is a fact, 
she really has some power in the art world,

00:03:18.784 --> 00:03:21.785
which is here in Amsterdam 
in the Panorama Room.

00:03:21.785 --> 00:03:26.306
Followed in 1905,
in the Stedelijk Museum -- our neighbors --

00:03:26.306 --> 00:03:30.522
with a real large exhibition, 
over 400 works.

00:03:30.522 --> 00:03:33.784
And this is very well received. 
This time she does not have to beg again,

00:03:33.784 --> 00:03:36.907
at the galleries and museums,
they will now come to her.

00:03:36.907 --> 00:03:42.384
And large exhibitions will follow 
in London and Germany.

00:03:42.384 --> 00:03:45.450
We know that she was not only in it 
for the money,

00:03:45.450 --> 00:03:48.871
because sometimes art traders 
would advise her to sell for a lower price,

00:03:48.871 --> 00:03:50.528
in order to sell more.

00:03:50.543 --> 00:03:55.063
Instead of that, 
she raised the price. (Laughter)

00:03:55.063 --> 00:03:59.304
So, her son would later call her 
very independent woman.

00:03:59.304 --> 00:04:02.066
And I think, she really was.

00:04:02.066 --> 00:04:06.144
Well, she loves to travel,
she speaks four languages,

00:04:06.144 --> 00:04:09.110
so she follows her son to Spain,
where he lives,

00:04:09.110 --> 00:04:11.355
and later on to New York.

00:04:11.355 --> 00:04:14.064
Then she starts to translate 
the letters in English.

00:04:14.064 --> 00:04:19.104
By the time she dies in 1925,
she has translated

00:04:19.104 --> 00:04:23.943
562 of all the letters from Vincent to Theo
and vice versa.

00:04:23.943 --> 00:04:29.496
And in 1914, she has published 
the letters to his brother,

00:04:29.943 --> 00:04:31.823
together with a biography,

00:04:31.823 --> 00:04:35.475
which is still very useful 
for our research today.

00:04:35.475 --> 00:04:40.304
Well, I wanted to say, 
but as Sylvana has said, that

00:04:40.304 --> 00:04:44.579
without her,
we probably would not have been here today.

00:04:44.703 --> 00:04:49.858
And Vincent might not be 
as famous as he is today.

00:04:51.751 --> 00:04:53.704
I should point that.

00:04:53.704 --> 00:04:56.246
And I would like to share 
a few words that have been put

00:04:56.246 --> 00:05:00.992
by the two directors
of the World Library on her grave:

00:05:00.992 --> 00:05:04.223
faithfulness, devotion and love.

00:05:04.223 --> 00:05:08.225
And I believe that if we carry those with us,
we will also succeed.

00:05:08.225 --> 00:05:10.363
Thank you.
(Applause)