Van Gogh's Letters to Theo: The Brotherhood Behind the Masterpieces

We know Vincent van Gogh through his paintings. But some of the most moving things he ever created weren't on canvas at all. They were letters, hundreds of them, written to his younger brother Theo.

A brotherhood on paper

Theo van Gogh worked as an art dealer, and for most of Vincent's life as an artist, he was his brother's greatest supporter. He sent Vincent money so he could keep painting, encouraged him through long periods of doubt, and believed in his work when almost no one else did.

Vincent, in turn, poured his heart into letters to Theo. Hundreds of them survive. In them, he describes what he's painting and why, sketches compositions in the margins, writes about the colors he's mixing, and shares his hopes, struggles, and thoughts about art, nature, and life.

A window into the paintings

The letters give us something rare: an artist explaining his own work as he creates it. Vincent wrote about the colors of the night sky, the blazing yellows of the south of France, and the flowers and fields he was painting. Reading them, you begin to see his paintings the way he saw them, not as finished masterpieces, but as passionate experiments in color and feeling.

The letters that saved his legacy

Vincent died in 1890, and Theo died only about six months later. Today the brothers rest side by side in the village cemetery at Auvers-sur-Oise, in France.

It was Theo's widow, Jo van Gogh-Bonger, who devoted herself to sharing Vincent's work with the world. She championed his paintings and published his letters, helping to build the extraordinary reputation he holds today. Many of the original letters are now preserved at the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam.

A story of love and family

The letters remind us that behind every famous painting is a person, and often the people who loved and believed in them. Vincent's art exists in large part because his brother never stopped supporting him. It's one of the most touching family stories in art history.

Carry the story with you

Many of the paintings Vincent described to Theo, from The Starry Night to Sunflowers and Café Terrace at Night, live on in our Van Gogh collection. They make an especially meaningful gift for a brother, a sister, or anyone who has been your biggest supporter.

Explore the full Van Gogh collection.