Why a Booktrail?
1800s: Vincent van Gogh’s sister in law has a story to tell
The Secret Life of Sunflowers
What you need to know before your trail
When Hollywood auctioneer Emsley Wilson finds her famous grandmother’s diary while cleaning out her New York brownstone, the pages are full of surprises. The first surprise is, the diary isn’t her grandmother’s. It belongs to Johanna Bonger, Vincent van Gogh’s sister-in-law.
Johanna inherited Vincent van Gogh’s paintings. They were all she had, and they weren’t worth anything. She was a 28 year old widow with a baby in the 1800s, without any means of supporting herself, living in Paris where she barely spoke the language. Yet she managed to introduce Vincent’s legacy to the world.
The inspiration couldn’t come at a better time for Emsley. With her business failing, an unexpected love turning up in her life, and family secrets unraveling, can she find answers in the past?
Travel Guide
The world of Van Gogh
Johanna saw that by translating the letters to English was important in getting more attention on Van Gogh’s work. She spent three years in New York, living on the Upper West Side and Queens from 1915 to 1919, where she began the work of translating Vincent’s letters into English. This was a very successful move as she ended up mounting a show on Fifth Avenue.
Soon after World War I ended, in 1919 she returned to Amsterdam. She had been in ill-health for some time as she suffered from Parkinson’s disease. She died on 2 September 1925, at the age of 62, in her country home in Laren, Netherlands.
BookTrail Boarding Pass: The Secret Life of Sunflowers
Destination: Netherlands, France Author/guide:Marta Molnar Departure Time: 1800s
Back to ResultsWhere Next?
