Book Review
Van Gogh brother's bio is timed well for Seattle

By Sheila Farr
Seattle Times art critic

E-mail this article Print this article Search archive Most read articles Most e-mailed articles

Other links Search event listings Search movie listings Sign up for Movies e-mail

It's popular knowledge that Theo van Gogh looked after his troubled older brother, Vincent, sending him money and emotional support so that Vincent could be an artist. Yet even though Theo was responsible enough to hold down a job as a Paris art dealer, his life was anything but smooth sailing, according to the recently released biography "Theo: The Other van Gogh." It purports to be the first book about the younger van Gogh brother and, though it traces an accurate profile of his life, "Theo" leaves plenty of room for future scholars.

Even so, for Seattle audiences, the book couldn't have come at a better time. With a tasty selection of Vincent's paintings and drawings at Seattle Art Museum this summer, there's renewed interest in the artist's life. (The show, "Van Gogh to Mondrian: Modern Art from the Kröller-Müller Museum," is bringing in 11,000-13,000 visitors each week.) As the brothers' previously published correspondence makes clear, some of the world's best-loved paintings probably wouldn't exist if it weren't for Theo's help.

"Theo: The Other van Gogh" by Marie-Angélique Ozanne and Frédérique de Jode Vendome, $24.95

"Theo: The Other van Gogh," translated by Alexandra Bonfante-Warren, helps put the paintings in context and mentions the purchases of Helene Kröller-Müller, a Dutch collector whose early interest in the work helped jump-start demand for Vincent's paintings in the decades after his death. Authors Marie-Angélique Ozanne and Frédérique de Jode drew on extensive published accounts of Vincent's life as well as tracking down previously unpublished correspondence to compile a serviceable summary of Theo's life. The main frustration of the book is that it leaves so much unanswered.

Information on art exhibit Van Gogh to Mondrian: Modern Art from the Kröller-Müller Museum: Special exhibition through Sept. 12, Seattle Art Museum, 100 University St., Seattle; $12-$15 (206-654-3100, www.seattleartmuseum.org).

Vincent and Theo were like two sides of a coin. Descended from a Dutch family of pastors and art dealers, Theo was sweet and dutiful, Vincent impetuous, brooding and socially inappropriate. Both brothers struggled with depression. Before becoming an artist, Vincent's uncle got him a job as an art dealer at Goupil & Cie at the Hague, but Vincent lost patience with the job and abruptly quit. Theo took up the work and eventually was transferred to a branch office in Paris, where he gained a considerable reputation for his sensitivity and eye for the best new paintings. He promoted the cause of many avant-garde artists, breaking with the wishes of his conservative employers. He lived frugally so that he could send money to his parents and to Vincent, placing the family welfare above his own. When he finally married at 32, he struggled to balance his own needs with those of his increasingly psychotic brother.

If, in previous depictions, Theo has come across as a well-adjusted fellow compared to his difficult brother, "The Other van Gogh" helps balance the account. Frequently unhappy with his job and lonely in the years before his marriage, Theo maintained his mild demeanor at work while living a wild nightlife in the bars and cabarets of Montmartre.

Previously, Theo's premature death was blamed on kidney disease — or even grief over Vincent's suicide. But here it is attributed to the final stages of syphilis. Hospitalized for mental illness and paralysis, Theo died just six months after Vincent.

Did Theo's wife get syphilis from him? Did his illness affect their son, Vincent? What happened to the rest of the van Gogh family, who signed all rights to Vincent's artwork over to Theo? These and many other questions are left hanging at the end of the book.

Sheila Farr: sfarr@seattletimes.com

Copyright © 2004 The Seattle Times Company

E-mail this article

Print this article

Search archive

More Entertainment & the Arts headlines...