Women throughout history have constantly been erased or shown very little in our textbooks. Recently, I have been reflecting on the many voices that were silenced or that no one teaches us.
We all know who Vincent van Gogh is or at least know his name. But many of us do not know the story of his family. Well, why do we care? He was famous, not his family so why should I focus on them? Because in this case, it matters. Our families impact our perspectives and maybe give us opportunities we would not have otherwise. Johanna van Gogh-Bonger is an example of this. She was the sister-in-law of Vincent van Gogh and one of the reasons why he became the person we know today.
Johanna took it upon herself to spread the news about Vincent’s artwork and she was indeed successful. She chose to continue his mission and did it all as a new widow. If you know anything about history, you know it was not easy for women to take any sort of action or leadership and she did just that. She sold paintings for promotion and also organized exhibitions that led to the spread of extremely popular paintings we know today. Due to her hard work the dream of Vincent of reaching many people through art became reality.
This work is important and lifting up these voices and stories is important. Without the strength of this woman we may not have ever seen these well known paintings.
My hope is that her story encourages women to take initiative because who knows if you’ll end up showing the world or creating the next best thing? This story should also encourage people to look beyond what is initially taught and ask questions because behind every person we know, there may be a Johanna.