SHORTLY AFTER VINCENT'S DEATH, Theo moved to a larger apartment in his building so that he could mount a memorial show of his brother's paintings. But within six months, Theo's mental and physical health deteriorated to such a degree that his wife, Jo, brought him back to Holland, where, riddled with a progressive, chronic disease, he died in a clinic. Theo was buried beside his brother in the little cemetery in Auvers-sur-Oise.
Jo's brother suggested she throw the paintings out and get on with her life. The other members of the van Gogh family had no interest or faith in Vincent's art. But Jo refused to abandon the work that had meant so much to her husband and his brother. Through her determined efforts the paintings and drawings, as well as the letters, survived. She organized exhibitions and wrote a biography of her soon-to-be-celebrated brother-in-law. Painstakingly she catalogued more than 680 letters and arranged to have them published. Within ten years the success that had eluded him in life came posthumously, with exhibitions of his work, critical praise, and buyers from all over Europe and the United States clamoring for his paintings.
A hundred years after his death, Still Life with Sunflowers, painted in Arles, sold at auction for $29.9 million. The poster of Vincent's sunflowers is one of the most popular reproduce tions in the world, thus making Vincent's wish come true that it might “brighten the rooms of working people.” Portrait of Dr. Paul Gachety painted in Auvers a few short months before his suicide, was auctioned for a record-beating $82.5 million. His story has been the subject of a Hollywood movie, a best-selling novel, and countless art books. Would Vincent have been pleased? It's hard to know what the reaction of such a complicated man might have been, but one thing is certain: He had foreseen that after his death his paintings would find an admiring audience.
Fate did not grant Vincent a wife, children, good health, wealth, or charm. But he was given another gift—the ability to see deeply into nature, to put on canvas his own ardent soul. His feeling for the rhythms of life, his sympathy for his fellow man, his yearning for love, and his understanding that what mattered was not worldly success but spirituality and a passion for work all poured into his painting… On this work he would be judged and found great. His legacy to us is not only powerful, vibrant paintings but also articulate, poetic letters. Through these we can relive his story, the story of Vincent, the consummate artist.