A brother like no other: Theo and Vincent van Gogh

Theo van Gogh gave Vincent money, advice, advocated for his brother's work, guided him into a career in art.

Theo's widow Jo ultimately helped secure van Gogh’s eventual posthumous recognition as one of the greatest artists of all time.

Uncover the stories from their letters in this exhibit.

In 1872, aged 16, Vincent left his parental home in Brabant and started working as a trainee art dealer for his uncle in The Hague. His earliest surviving letters date from these years. 

He began a life-long correspondence with his younger brother Theo. 

One year later, Theo started working for the same company in their Brussels branch. Vincent was transferred to the London branch and in 1875 to Paris.

In Paris Vincent became increasingly religious. He was less and less interested in his job. After losing it, he returned to England where he was a teacher for a short time. 

Vincent aspired to study theology and he moved to Amsterdam, but he lacked the discipline to study. However, he still wished to serve God. He became a lay preacher in the Belgian mining region Borinage.

Vincent wrote to Theo about Borinage in 1879: 

"It’s a sombre place...everything has something dismal and deathly about it. The workers are...emaciated and pale owing to fever...look exhausted and haggard, weather-beaten and prematurely old."

Vincent often sent his brother sketches. 

Theo advised Vincent to focus on his drawing. So Vincent moved to Brussels in 1880, where he worked on his drawing techniques and met other artists. Since Vincent no longer had a paying job, Theo sent him money from time to time.

In 1883, Vincent moved back in with his parents in Nuenen in Brabant province. There, he continued practicing his drawing and he painted rural life: farmers, workers and weavers. 

He started work on The Potato Eaters. By this time, Theo became a manager of the art firm, and supported Vincent financially so he could concentrate fully on his art. 

“Now I have a proposal to make for the future. Let me send you my work and you take what you want from it, but I insist that I may consider the money I would receive from you after March as money I’ve earned.” 

- Vincent to Theo, 15 January 1884


Theo did not succeed in selling Vincent's work in Paris - it was too dark.

Vincent’s parents were unhappy that he’d given up work. They thought he was a social failure. 

Shortly after his father passed away in 1885, Vincent left for Antwerp to enroll at the academy of arts, never to return to the Netherlands.

The art academy in Antwerp afforded him good materials, drawing clubs with models, and museums packed with art. But he wasn’t exactly enamored with the art classes:

“I actually find all the drawings I see there hopelessly bad — and fundamentally wrong. And I know that mine are totally different — time will just have to tell who’s right. Damn it, not one of them has any feeling for what a classical statue is.”


- Vincent to Theo, January 1886

His next move was to turn up unannounced in Paris, where Theo was living. 

He planned to take classes in the studio of the popular artist Fernand Cormon.

"My dear Theo, Don’t be cross with me that I’ve come all of a sudden. I’ve thought about it so much and I think we’ll save time this way."

- Vincent to Theo, 28 February 1886

There, Vincent met a new generation of artists - including Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, and Emile Bernard. The people and art scene of Paris inspired him to experiment, and the dark tones of his former work gave way to brighter colors.

Van Gogh also found inspiration in Japanese woodcuts, which Theo - with his extensive art connections - helped him collect. 

Van Gogh’s distinctive style began to emerge.

But, not one to hang about, Vincent soon tired of the city and headed to Provence in search of the light and color he found in the Japanese landscapes.

“It seems to me almost impossible to be able to work in Paris, unless you have a refuge in which to recover and regain your peace of mind and self-composure. Without that, you’d be bound to get utterly numbed.” 

- Vincent to Theo, 21 February 1888

His style became looser and more expressive, and he set about creating an artist collective in the Yellow House in Arles.


“You know I’ve always thought it ridiculous for painters to live alone. You always lose when you’re isolated.”
 
- Vincent to Theo, May 1888

The first - and last - artist to join van Gogh was Paul Gauguin, who arrived in October 1888.

“So Gauguin’s coming; that will make a big change in your life. I hope that your efforts will succeed in making your house a place where artists will feel at home.” 

- Theo to Vincent, Paris, 19 October 1888

Their very different characters caused tension between Vincent and Gauguin. When Gauguin considered leaving the Yellow House Vincent threatened him with a razor. 


While the exact circumstances are not known, it was shortly after this that van Gogh sliced off part of his ear, later presenting it to a prostitute in the town's red light district. He was admitted to hospital. On hearing the news, Theo rushed down from Paris.

After his discharge from the hospital Vincent resumed work. In the following months, his mental health fluctuated. Fearing illness, he had himself voluntarily admitted to Saint-Paul-the-Mausole, a psychiatric hospital in in Saint-Rémy-de-Provence. 

He continued working hard and made many paintings, including Almond Blossom.

The following year, Theo submitted some of Vincent’s paintings to a Paris exhibition, and 10 of the artist’s works were chosen for display.

“How pleased I would have been if you’d been there at the Independents’ exhibition. […] Your paintings are well placed and look very well. Many people came up to me to give compliments. Gauguin said that your paintings are the key to the exhibition.” 

- Theo to Vincent, March 1890

After leaving the hospital, Vincent moved to Auvers-sur-Oise, an artist's village near Paris,  and threw himself into his painting. But when he learned that Theo planned to quit his job and set up a business, Vincent worried about the financial risk, and, in turn, his own future.


 “Once back here I felt very saddened, and had continued to feel the storm that threatens you also weighing upon me. I usually try to be quite good-humoured, but my life, too, is attacked at the very root, my step also is faltering.” 

- Vincent to Theo, July 1890



Theo and his wife Jo tried to reassure Vincent. But financial worries and the fear that his nervous attacks might return were more than he could bear. On 27 July 1890, Vincent shot himself in the chest, and died of his injuries two days later. Theo was there when he died.

Theo organized a memorial exhibition of his brother’s work, but soon after, he suffered a nervous breakdown and died in early 1891.  Theo’s widow, Jo van Gogh-Bonger, sought to raise awareness of Vincent’s work, and published his letters to Theo in 1914. 


After Jo’s death, her son Vincent Willem van Gogh loaned his uncle’s paintings to the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam.  And in 1973, the Van Gogh Museum was opened by Queen Juliana, which now attracts 2 million visitors a year. 


"I can do nothing about it if my paintings don’t sell. The day will come, though, when people will see that they’re worth more than the cost of the paint and my subsistence, very meagre in fact, that we put into them."

- Vincent to Theo, Arles, 25 October 1888