Speaker 1: Welcome to Brainstuff, a production of iHeartRadio, Hey brain Stuff.
Speaker 1: Lauren Bogelbaum here. Even knowing a little about Vincent van Gogh,
Speaker 1: it's still astonishing that he sold only a few paintings
Speaker 1: during his lifetime, and for small sums of money or
Speaker 1: barters to keep himself afloat. Today there are traveling interactive
Speaker 1: exhibits that promise to immerse you in his words and works.
Speaker 1: The area where he grew up in the Netherlands is
Speaker 1: a national park. There are many pieces of music and
Speaker 1: films inspired by him. There's an episode of Doctor Who
Speaker 1: about his struggle with mental health and aliens, and someone
Speaker 1: once gave me a t shirt that features Yonkat riding
Speaker 1: a pop tart through the starry night. When his works
Speaker 1: do come up for auction today they fetch tens of
Speaker 1: millions of dollars apiece, from famed paintings like Sunflowers and
Speaker 1: Cafe Terrace at Night to a litany of self portraits.
Speaker 1: Vincent Willem Vango's portfolio is overwhelming and brilliant, but fame
Speaker 1: and success have always been fickle, and vengo had a
Speaker 1: number of odds stacked against him. He experienced debilitatingly poor
Speaker 1: mental and physical health. It's mostly impossible to make real
Speaker 1: diagnoses today, but experts have extended hypotheses from epilepsy to
Speaker 1: borderline personality disorder to lead poisoning. Whatever he faced, it
Speaker 1: didn't make it easy for him to market himself. He
Speaker 1: actually worked in the art scene for a time. He
Speaker 1: had a day job as an art dealer, but that
Speaker 1: might have been a mark against him too. For the
Speaker 1: article this episode is based on How Stuff Works. Spoke
Speaker 1: by email with Nadine Granoff, a fine art appraiser. She said,
Speaker 1: we get the impression that Vincent did not excel at sales.
Speaker 1: He was a failure as an art dealer at Goupeel,
Speaker 1: a fine art dealer. It is said Vincent was fired
Speaker 1: from Goupeel for not being sufficiently cordial to clients. He
Speaker 1: probably seemed a bit eccentric in the world of commerce,
Speaker 1: so that could have burned bridges and turned potential buyers
Speaker 1: off to his own works in the short term and
Speaker 1: in the longer term. He may not have lived long
Speaker 1: enough to see his career bloom. He died of what's
Speaker 1: generally agreed to be suicide at age thirty seven at
Speaker 1: the time in eighteen ninety. He was just a couple
Speaker 1: of years into receiving some increased recognition amongst the avant garde,
Speaker 1: an inclusion in some exhibits in Paris and Brussels. So
Speaker 1: how did this now iconic painter become iconic enter His
Speaker 1: sister in law, One Johanna Vango Bonger, better known as
Speaker 1: Yo Yo, only became part of the Vango family in
Speaker 1: eighteen eighty nine, shortly before Vincent's death. Born in eighteen
Speaker 1: sixty two, Yo worked as an English teacher at two
Speaker 1: different girls schools before her marriage to Vincent's beloved brother Tayoh. Tragically,
Speaker 1: Tao died just six months after Vincent. Tao had complications
Speaker 1: from syphilis. Yo was left with their newborn son and
Speaker 1: a sizable art collection from Vincent, and that is when
Speaker 1: she decided to pursue Tao's wishes. Hastuffworks also spoke via
Speaker 1: email with Hans Luton, a senior researcher at the Vango Museum.
Speaker 1: He said Tao wanted nothing more than to raise the
Speaker 1: profile of his brother's work. Yo assumed responsibility for Vango's
Speaker 1: artistic legacy from eighteen ninety one up to her death.
Speaker 1: She dedicated herself to raising awareness of Vincent's art and letters,
Speaker 1: and of course she loved his work too. Yo worked
Speaker 1: extensively to cultivate Vincent's name and interest in his style,
Speaker 1: which was no small feat. His work was considered too
Speaker 1: modern to be of interest to collectors and buyers, so
Speaker 1: she selectively sold his works and inspired writers and art
Speaker 1: critics to cover his paintings. She also lent pieces to
Speaker 1: prestigious museums and organized countless exhibitions and sales. Latin said
Speaker 1: one of Yo's major feats was the organization of a
Speaker 1: magisterial exhibition at the Stedlick Museum, at Amsterdam's premier museum
Speaker 1: for contemporary art, in nineteen oh five, where she united
Speaker 1: no less than four hundred and eighty four of Ango's works.
Speaker 1: A Vango exhibition of this magnitude would never again be matched.
Speaker 1: All told, between eighteen ninety one and nineteen twenty five,
Speaker 1: Yo sold at least one hundred and ninety two of
Speaker 1: her brother in law's paintings and fifty five of his
Speaker 1: works on paper. She also published Vincent's letters to Tao
Speaker 1: in nineteen fourteen. He had written hundreds, most of which
Speaker 1: Taeo had kept. These eloquent letters made Vincent more relatable,
Speaker 1: increasing his appeal and the public's appreciation for his art.
Speaker 1: Experts do believe that Yo n credited out sexual and
Speaker 1: family secrets, and unfortunately the conversation is pretty one sided.
Speaker 1: Only about forty of Tao's letters to his brother survive.
Speaker 1: Granoff said Vincent typically burned any letters he received after
Speaker 1: reading them. Outside of promoting Vincent's work, Yeo also fought
Speaker 1: for better working conditions for women and laborers as a
Speaker 1: member of the Social Democratic Workers Party. Yo Vang Go
Speaker 1: Bonger died in nineteen twenty five at the age of
Speaker 1: sixty two from Parkinson's disease. All of the works still
Speaker 1: in her possession passed to her son, whom they had
Speaker 1: named Vincent Villain Vang Go after his uncle. He continued
Speaker 1: his mother's life's work and eventually established the Vincent Vango
Speaker 1: Foundation and the Vango Museum so that his uncle's pieces
Speaker 1: could be accessible to everyone. Tao and Yo's great grandson,
Speaker 1: Villain Vang Goh, is currently a board advisor to the museum.
Speaker 1: A Latin said, Io Vang Bonger is perhaps not a
Speaker 1: household name, but she was a force to be reckoned
Speaker 1: with She acted decisively in a world dominated by men.
Speaker 1: I am delighted that we are able to tell her
Speaker 1: life story in such detail now. Luton wrote a biography
Speaker 1: of Yo that was published in collaboration with the Vango
Speaker 1: Museum back in twenty nineteen. It's English translation by Lynn
Speaker 1: Richards dropped in twenty twenty two. It's called Yo Van
Speaker 1: Go Bonger, The Woman who made Vincent Famous. You can
Speaker 1: also read Yo's diaries for free online, annotated by Latin
Speaker 1: and also translated into English by Richards at Bongerdiaries dot org.
Speaker 1: Today's episode is based on the article Meet the Woman
Speaker 1: who made Vango Famous on HowStuffWorks dot com, written by
Speaker 1: Leah Hoyt. Brain Stuff is production of iHeartRadio in partnership
Speaker 1: with how stuffworks dot Com and is produced by Tyler Klang.
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