The story of the Van Gogh family told in a major exhibition at the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam

From February 10 to April 10, 2023, the exhibition Choosing Vincent. Portrait of a Family History, with which the museum celebrates its 50th birthday in 2023. The exhibition, curated by Lisa Smit, aims to tell the story of the Van Gogh family, without whose support the Van Gogh Museum would probably never have existed.

In this tribute, many masterpieces but also lesser-known works will be on public display to tell the story of how a personal family collection grew into a world-renowned museum collection.

Vincent van Gogh died in 1890; shortly thereafter his brother Theo also died. The latter’s wife, Jo van Gogh-Bonger came out devastated by the loss of her husband and brother-in-law and had to take care of her son Vincent alone, but more importantly she was faced with a very important choice: what was she to do with her brother-in-law’s enormous collection of paintings, drawings, prints and letters and with the collection of artworks by artists of their contemporaries assembled by Theo and Vincent? She decided to carry on Theo’s dream of continuing to promote her brother-in-law Vincent’s art: she organized exhibitions to make the works visible and sold them to make them part of collections accessible to the public around the world. The largest exhibition Jo put on of Vincent van Gogh’s masterpieces was held in 1905 at the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam (more than 480 works), and following this exhibition the prices of the works rose rapidly. In 1914 he also gave Vincent’s letters to his brother Theo to prints. When Jo died in 1925, his brother-in-law’s art was world famous. Later his son, who bore the same name as his uncle, transferred the artworks that were still in the family to a foundation. He was one of the founders of the Van Gogh Museum, thus continuing to fulfill his parents’ dream.

The museum now houses the world’s largest collection of works by Vincent van Gogh, with about 200 paintings, 500 drawings, 30 prints and more than 800 letters, belonging to the Vincent van Gogh Foundation.

Among the masterpieces on display will be the iconic Almond Blossom of 1890, which Vincent painted as a gift on the occasion of the birth of his grandson and namesake Vincent, son of Theo and Jo.

“The exhibition will be a great opportunity to discover the collection in a whole new way,” said the curator. “And it’s extraordinary how closely the family is still involved. It is also contributing to this exhibition, for which we are very grateful.”

Pictured are Vincent van Gogh, his brother Theo, Theo’s wife Jo van Gogh-Bonger and their son Vincent.

The story of the Van Gogh family told in a major exhibition at the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam

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