Â鶹APP

Theo van Gogh. Picture By Sjakkelien Vollebregt

Top 10 Outstanding Facts about Theo van Gogh

Theo van Gogh was a Dutch director and film and television producer, actor, and author.

He directed submission part 1, a short film written by Somali writer and politician Ayaan Hirsi Ali, which criticized the treatment of women in Islam in strong terms.

He was born on 23 July 1957, in The Hague, Netherlands to Anneke and Johan van Gogh.

Let’s look at some of the outstanding facts about Theo van Gogh;

1. Van Gogh created the 10-minute short film submission

Working from a script written by Ayaan Hirsi Ali, Van Gogh created the 10-minute short film Submission.

The movie deals with violence against women in some Islamic societies. It tells the stories, using visual shock tactics, of four abused Muslim women. The title, Submission, is a translation of the word “Islam” into English.

2.  Journalist Francisco van Jole had accused Hirsi Ali and Van Gogh of plagiarism 

Journalist Francisco van Jole. Picture By Vera de Kok

In August 2004, the newspaper De Volkskrant reported that the journalist Francisco van Jole had accused Hirsi Ali and Van Gogh of plagiarism.

He was saying that they had appropriated the ideas of Iranian-American video artist Shirin Neshat whose work used Arabic text projected onto bodies.

Van Gogh was shot and stabbed by Mohammed Bouyeri while cycling to work on 2nd November 2004 at about 9 o’clock in the morning.

Bouyeri also injured some bystanders and left a note pinned to Van Gogh’s stomach with a knife containing death threats to Ayaan Hirsi Ali, who went into hiding.

3. Theo worked with various art offices

Theo worked for some years at the Dutch office of the Â鶹APPian art dealers Goupil and Cie in The Hague. He joined the Brussels office on 1 January 1873 as their youngest employee.

After Theo was transferred to the London office, he moved to the office in The Hague, where he became a successful art dealer. By 1884, he was transferred to the Â鶹APP main office, which in 1884 took the name of Boussod & Valadon.

Beginning in the winter of 1880, he sent painting materials as well as monthly financial support to his brother, painter Vincent van Gogh who was then living in the Netherlands.

4. Theo admired his elder brother Vincent for his whole life

Vincent van Gogh, Picture By mwF3N6F.

Theo admired his elder brother Vincent for his whole life, but communicating with him proved to be difficult, even before Vincent opted to follow his artistic vocation.

The communication between both brothers suffered from diverging definitions of standards, and it was evidently Theo who kept on writing letters.

Vincent is known not to have kept the letters Theo sent. On the other hand, Theo kept every scrap of correspondence from his brother (651 letters addressed to Theo in total).

Therefore, mostly Vincent’s answers survived, and few of Theo’s (32 letters from Theo to Vincent remain). Theo was often concerned about Vincent’s mental condition and was among the few who understood his brother.

5. Theo supported his brother Vincent in Artistic work

 Theo helped Vincent maintain his artist lifestyle by giving him money. He also allowed Vincent to pursue his life as an artist through his unwavering emotional support and love.

The majority of Theo’s letters and communications with Vincent are filled with praise and encouragement.

Vincent would send Theo sketches and ideas for paintings, along with accounts of his day-to-day experiences, to his delight and eager attention of Theo.

6.  Theo and his wife decided to publish the letters between Theo and Vincent

It is largely thanks to Theo and his wife Johanna, who in 1914 decided to publish the letters between Theo and Vincent, that the letters are available. Hardly any of Theo’s letters survive because Vincent failed to keep them.

These letters witness both the emotional and professional state of Vincent throughout his life as early as 1874 and serve as a diary of his everyday encounters. The letters have been collected and published in book form as The Letters of Vincent Van Gogh.

7. Theo’s health deteriorated after the death of his brother

His health deteriorated months after the death of his brother. He was admitted in a psychiatric hospital, in Den Dolder on 18 November 1890.

He had been diagnosed to be suffering from progressive and general paralysis. Initial examination confirmed this diagnosis.

By 1 December his medical notes confirmed he presented all the symptoms of dementia paralytica, a disease of the brain caused by Syphilis. He died on 25 January 1891. 

8. Theo’s Brother – cut his own ear

Vincent van Gogh with a bandaged ear. By Courtauld.

There are many theories surrounding the Van Gogh ear-cutting incident. One of the popular theories is that Van Gogh took a razor to his left ear and partially severed it after getting into a fight with fellow artist Paul Gauguin.

He then wrapped the partially severed ear in paper and delivered it to a woman at a brothel that both he and Gaugin used to frequent.

Other theories suggest that it was Gauguin who cut his ear. This is still a bit of a gray area.

9. He married Johanna Gezina

Jo Van Gogh-Bonger with her son Vincent Willem. Picture By Raoul Saisset

Johanna Gezina Bonger was born on 4 October 1862 in Amsterdam in the Netherlands. She was the fifth of seven children, the daughter of Hendrik Christiaan Bonger (1828–1904), an insurance broker, and Hermine Louise Weissman.

At the age of 22, she became a teacher of English at a boarding school for girls at Elburg, later teaching at the High School for Girls at Utrecht. While in Amsterdam she was introduced by her brother Andries to Theo van Gogh and they were married in Amsterdam on 17 April 1889.

Their son, Vincent Willem, was born on 31 January 1890 but following Theo’s death in January 1891, Johanna left a widow with her infant son to support.

10. Theo invited his brother to live with him 

Paul Gauguin. Friend to Vincent van Gogh. Picture By Paul Gauguin

He was the younger brother of Vincent van Gogh, and Theo’s unfailing financial and emotional support allowed his brother to devote himself entirely to painting.

In 1886, Theo invited Vincent to come and live with him in Â鶹APP. They shared an apartment in Montmartre.

Theo introduced Vincent to Paul Gauguin, Paul Cézanne, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Henri Rousseau, Camille Pissarro and Georges Seurat.