Van Gogh’s Inner Circle by ACC Art Books

ISBN: 978-1-78884-043-9

ËxHSLHSIy840439zv&:%:&:+:+

£35.00/$45.00

www.accartbooks.com

VAN GOGH’S INNER CIRCLE Friends, Family, Models

Vincent van Gogh is often seen as a man who went through life lonely and misunderstood. This is not an accurate picture. That he had a complex and sometimes obdurate character is certainly true, but he also had long-lasting and often intimate relationships – ties that helped to shape the man and his art. This book, Van Gogh’s Inner Circle: Friends, Family, Models, published to accompany the exhibition of the same title, highlights the people who played an important part in his life and work. Personal documents and works of art make us readjust the present somewhat clichéd image. Van Gogh’s Inner Circle gives us a different impression of the idiosyncratic artist, in whom many of those around him recognized an exceptional talent, a great spirit and a warm heart, and so leaves us much better acquainted with Van Gogh and his nearest and dearest.

VAN

’ GOGH S

INNER CIRCLE Friends, Family, Models

Contents

7 11

Foreword Note to the Reader

Van Gogh's Inner Circle: Friends, Family, Models Sjraar van Heugten

143

Van Gogh and His Family ‘that our home is and will continue to be our refuge, come what may’ Helewise Berger

188

Family Tree of the Van Gogh and Carbentus Families

192

The Life of Vincent van Gogh: ‘driven to the limit’ Laura Prins

201 208 210 215 217 219 222

Notes Bibliography List of Exhibited Works Lenders to the Exhibition About the Authors Index of Names Photographic Credits

Foreword

Vincent van Gogh is often seen as a lonely artist, little appreciated in his own day. His relationship with the people around him was indeed complex and he alienated some of them with his plain-spoken character. But he was a passionate man and his relationships were often strong and enduring. In the various places he lived in the Netherlands, England, Belgium and France during the thirty-seven years of his life, he made many friends and acquaintances. The exhibition Van Gogh’s Inner Circle: Friends, Family, Models and the book that accompanies it reveal a picture of the artist that is very different from the usual clichéd image. They offer an insight into the important relationships that Van Gogh established and nurtured, and show the influences they had on his life and work. Van Gogh’s Inner Circle makes it clear that, like the great majority of people, Van Gogh longed for human contact and support. As he wrote to his brother Theo in 1879: ‘Like everyone else, I have need of relationships of friendship or affection or trusting companionship’ [154]. And he would continue to seek them out his whole life long. The many exhibitions about Vincent van Gogh that have been held all over the world have dealt only indirectly or to a limited extent with the circle of people around him. In that respect Theo van Gogh (1857-1891): Art Dealer, Collector and Brother of Vincent, which focused on Theo, Vincent’s brother and the most important person in his life, and was on view at the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam in 1999 and the Musée d’Orsay in Paris in 1999-2000, is particularly important. Although in Van Gogh: Face to Face, seen in various museums in the United States in 2000-2001, Van Gogh’s portraits and figure pieces were key to the exhibition, no specific stress was laid on his nearest and dearest. Het Noordbrabants Museum is thus the first to devote a major exhibition and book to this subject. Van Gogh’s Inner Circle turns the spotlight on his family, the artists who were his friends, the models with whom he had a special relationship, and the women he loved. It foregrounds the people who were dear to him and the times and places that were important in

his life, from his native Brabant and the years in The Hague to his periods in Paris and the South of France, and his final weeks in Auvers- sur-Oise. In both the exhibition and catalogue, paintings and drawings by Van Gogh along with a variety of documents give us an insight into his various relationships. In addition to the portraits he painted and drew, for instance, an album of poetry for Theo, sketchbooks for Betsy Tersteeg – daughter of his boss H.G. Tersteeg in the art dealership in The Hague – and letters he sent and received, all tell us more about Vincent van Gogh. That he was valued as an individual and as an artist is clear from such things as the moving letters of condolence that Theo received following his brother’s death. Personal sources make us aware of the man behind the artist. The exhibition brings together many notable documents whose existence has been virtually unknown to the general public. In addition to paintings and works on paper from Van Gogh’s oeuvre, Van Gogh’s Inner Circle also includes work by other artists. Van Gogh exchanged works with his painter friends and some of them produced portraits of him. Moreover, thanks to (self-)portraits the artists with whom he was friends acquire a face to go with the name. The subject is closely allied to his Brabant background: here in Brabant Van Gogh was born, grew up, and lived and worked as an artist. It was from the warm Van Gogh family nest that he made the earliest of his many contacts. Which makes Het Noordbrabants Museum the ideal setting for this exhibition. Van Gogh occupies an important place in the museum’s permanent collection. Het Noordbrabants Museum is the only museum in the south of the Netherlands to have original works by Van Gogh on display. Besides paintings and works on paper owned by the museum, works on loan from elsewhere can be seen as well. The first plans for this exhibition were already laid in 2009 when they were put forward as part of the bid by Eindhoven|BrabantStad for the title of Cultural Capital of Europe in 2018. An exhibition about Van Gogh’s lifelong search for friendship was related to the theme ‘The Art of Living Together’ developed by Aart Wijnen. But even though the choice of Cultural Capital eventually went elsewhere we nonetheless continued with the preparations for the exhibition. In this connection I must mention our late and greatly missed colleague Maureen Trappeniers, who passed away in 2016. Maureen was our Curator of Art After 1870 and a respected expert on Van Gogh. Together, she and I approached Sjraar van Heugten to refine the concept for the exhibition. Van Gogh’s Inner Circle was put together by Sjraar van Heugten, former Head of Collections at the Van Gogh Museum and independent exhibition maker. Working with Sjraar was a pleasure; it is thanks to his commitment

35.* Vincent van Gogh Man at Table, March-April 1885, oil on canvas, 44.3 x 32.5 cm, Kröller-Müller Museum, Otterlo

36. Vincent van Gogh Head of a Woman Wearing a White Cap, November 1884-May 1885, oil on canvas, 44 x 35.9 cm, Kröller-Müller Museum, Otterlo

adults, the young woman with a white cap, second from the left, is generally assumed to be Gordina de Groot, nicknamed Sien. She posed frequently for Van Gogh and is recognizable in various studies of heads. The other three persons have been given a variety of names, and it has actually been argued that trying to identify them is pointless, because Van Gogh could simply have portrayed people who were not members of the De Groot-van Rooij family.37 There is not much to go on, but in a letter written from Paris to Wil in late October 1887, Van Gogh asks ‘how they’re doing at De Groot’s. How did that business turn out? Did Sien de Groot marry her cousin? And did her child live? What I think about my own work is that the painting of the peasants eating potatoes that I did in Nuenen is after all the best thing I did’ [574]. The fact that Van Gogh mentions this family and The Potato Eaters in the same breath clearly shows how strongly he connected them with the painting. It therefore seems plausible to identify the woman pouring the coffee and thus acting as the mater familias as Cornelia de Groot-van Rooij. The two men could be Sis and This van Rooij.38 The ‘business’ Van Gogh refers to is Gordina’s pregnancy, which had far-reaching consequences for him, because some people in the village

suspected that he was the father of her child. That wasnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t true, but a priest made matters worse by forbidding his parishioners to pose for Van Gogh. He therefore found himself without any models from September 1885 on, which was one of his reasons for moving to Antwerp in November. In 1926, Sien de Groot told Stokvis that she remembered little about Van Gogh.39 That is remarkable, given the many times she posed for him and the commotion caused by her pregnancy. But the latter circumstance possibly explains her reluctance to reminisce about it, since it must have been a difficult time for her in the village.

Anthon van Rappard â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Friendship in Stormy Weather In March 1884, Van Gogh sent Van Rappard three shipments of drawings in the hope that he would show them to his friends and acquaintances and perhaps sell some. No sales were forthcoming, however, and Van Rappard took the drawings along when he went on 17 May to Nuenen for

37.* Vincent van Gogh Head of a Man, December 1884-January 1885, pencil, pen, brush and coarse brush (?) and ink, on paper, 14.8 x 10.4 cm, Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam (Vincent van Gogh Foundation)

86.* Letter from Marie GinouxJulien to Vincent van Gogh, 10 June 1890, Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam (Vincent van Gogh Foundation)

91.* Letter from Vincent van Gogh to Paul Signac, 10 April 1889, Archives Signac, Paris

137.* Vincent van Gogh The Garden of the Vicarage at Nuenen, late October-early November 1885, opaque and transparent watercolour on wove paper, 38 x 49 cm, Het Noordbrabants Museum, â&#x20AC;&#x2122;s-Hertogenbosch, acquired with the support of the BankGiro Lottery, Mondriaan Fonds, VSBfonds, Friends of Het Noordbrabants Museum, the Renschdael Art Foundation, and Mr Coen Teulings

138. Vincent van Gogh The Vicarage Garden with Figures, November 1885, oil on panel, 92 x 104 cm, now lost

not think it was entirely in accordance with his wishes.’96 Vincent’s relationship with Wil also cooled for a while owing to some friction when the vicarage inventory was drawn up in May 1885. Halfway through, Vincent withdrew from it and renounced his share of the inheritance.97 Previously, with a view to helping out Theo financially, he had proposed to give up his share in favour of ‘the youngsters’ – Lies, Wil and Cor [490].98 The argument had made him thoroughly fed up with all his sisters and he wrote to Theo: ‘I foresee that the characters of the 3 sisters (all three) will get worse not better with time, and to me at least they’re utterly disagreeable as it is,’ mentioning Wil in particular [506]. As he fell out with his sisters, the bitter tone in the letters to Theo softened. Theo was more positive about Vincent’s work and encouraged him to use more colour. Despite a difference between them in the summer of 1885, their fraternal relationship improved. Vincent had thought that his mother, Wil and Cor would move to Leiden the following year and that he would be the only one to stay in Brabant.99 It was a poor prediction. Instead, he was the first to leave, setting out for Antwerp on 24 November 1885 while the rest of the family moved to Breda in March 1886. Before he went he once again depicted the dear old family place, which he had rendered repeatedly in the time – almost two years – that he was living in Nuenen. Now it was as a park to stroll in in the watercolour drawing The Garden of the Vicarage at Nuenen, which was the model for a large and now lost painting (figs. 137, 138). His intention was to spend a while in Antwerp before returning to Brabant and meeting his family. As it transpired, he would never see his native land again and of all the family, only Theo would ever see Vincent once more.

Blood Is Thicker than Water In 1886 and 1887 Vincent and Theo’s relationship became increasingly intense. At the same time, Vincent and the other members of his family were increasingly estranged. His mother sought a rapprochement while he was in Antwerp but he held to his decision not to write to the people at home, certainly not as long as his mother and Wil were staying with his ‘charming sister Anna’ [548]. These were the consequences of the arguments after his father’s death in March. ‘Don’t they understand that themselves – that precisely when one has ceased to be angry about it, it has definitely become a matter of stranger than strangers to one another?’ he continued to Theo, who again found himself in the role of mediator and conduit for news. In early 1886 Vincent decided that the time and expense involved in returning to Brabant would be counter-productive, for now his sights were set on Paris. Although he and Theo had talked about living together,

177