Johanna van Gogh-Bonger
Art collector (1862-1925) Netherlands

In 1891, Johanna was widowed with a son barely one year old. The inheritance she received consisted of an apartment in Paris and approximately 200 works by her brother-in-law, Vincent van Gogh, which at the time were worthless. Not even her husband, an art dealer, had managed to sell them. Despite being advised to get rid of the paintings, she returned to the Netherlands, opened a guesthouse, and for months collected canvases, cataloged them, and circulated them among her contacts. In 1892, she opened her first exhibition in Amsterdam to great acclaim. She also worked diligently to publish the more than 600 letters Van Gogh exchanged with his brother. Her way of presenting these works to the world was highly innovative and greatly influential in the art world today. Her vision transformed the mad painter who sold only three paintings in his lifetime into one of the most renowned artists in the world. In 1905, despite her family's disapproval, she was one of the founding members of the Women's Socialist Movement.