Jo van Gogh-Bonger at the Van Gogh Museum

June 30 2025

Image of Jo van Gogh-Bonger at the Van Gogh Museum

Picture: Van Gogh Museum

Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:

The Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam will be opening an exhibition entitled Captivated by Vincent. The Intimate Friendship of Jo van Gogh-Bonger and Isaac Israëls in September 2025.

According to their website:

To mark the centenary of Jo van Gogh-Bonger’s death (1862–1925), the Van Gogh Museum presents Captivated by Vincent. The Intimate Friendship of Jo van Gogh-Bonger and Isaac Israëls, a small-scale exhibition exploring her special relationship with the painter Isaac Israëls (1865–1934). Jo, who was married to Vincent van Gogh’s brother Theo, played a pivotal role in preserving and promoting Vincent’s legacy.

Between 1915 and 1920, Jo lent Israëls several of Van Gogh’s masterpieces – including Sunflowers, The Bedroom, and The Yellow House (The Street) – which Israëls then used as backdrops in at least seventeen of his own works. He even coined the verb "Vincenting” to describe this creative process.

The exhibition shows ten of these paintings, from Dutch museum and private collections. Two of the works with the Sunflowers are in the collection of the Van Gogh Museum. There is also a special drawn study on display, in which Van Gogh's works can be seen.

Notice to "Internet Explorer" Users

You are seeing this notice because you are using Internet Explorer 6.0 (or older version). IE6 is now a deprecated browser which this website no longer supports. To view the Art History News website, you can easily do so by downloading one of the following, freely available browsers:

Once you have upgraded your browser, you can return to this page using the new application, whereupon this notice will have been replaced by the full website and its content.