Saving Vincent: A Novel of Jo Van Gogh Book Review

Full disclosure: I was given a free advance reader copy of this book by Books Forward in exchange for an honest review.

Content warning: this review discusses mental health.

Vincent Van Gogh is undoubtedly one of the greatest artists who ever lived. His work has been admired and emulated for over 100 years. His backstory of struggling to get his paintings out there and with his mental health are well documented. But, what I didn’t know was that his sister-in-law Jo Van Gogh was responsible for saving Vincent’s work from obscurity. Author Joan Fernandez dives deep into this part of Vincent Van Gogh’s legacy with her historical fiction novel Saving Vincent: A Novel of Jo Van Gogh. It’s a wonderful story that features beautifully drawn out characters and explores what made Vincent Van Gogh so special.

Saving Vincent: A Novel of Jo Van Gogh is about one woman’s 15-year journey to preserve her brother-in-law’s paintings despite all the obstacles against her in turn-of-the-century Europe. In 1891, timid Jo Van Gogh Bonger lives safely in the background of her art dealer husband Theo’s work selling obscure artists, including his ill-fated deceased brother Vincent. When he dies unexpectedly, Jo’s brief happiness is shattered. Her inheritance – many of Vincent’s unsold paintings – is worthless. Despite being pressured to move back in with her parents, she defies tradition by starting a boarding house to raise her infant son alone and choosing to promote Vincent’s art herself. However, her ingenuity and persistence draw the opposition of a powerful Parisian art dealer who vows to stop her and to sink Vincent into obscurity.

Going into this book, I knew Vincent Van Gogh’s classic paintings like Starry Night, Sunflowers, and his self-portrait as well as his struggles with mental illness. In addition, I’m a Doctor Who fan, and I adore the episode “Vincent and the Doctor,” in which the Eleventh Doctor and his companion Amy Pond visit the painter and fight a monster. It’s best remembered for a scene towards the end, in which the Doctor and Amy take Vincent to The Gallery in 2010 to show him that his work will live on. It’s beautiful. I was also aware of his brother Theo since the Fall Out Boy album Infinity on High is lifted from a line from Vincent’s letter to him in 1888.

On the other hand, I had no idea who Jo Van Gogh was or how Vincent Van Gogh’s work became famous after his death in 1890. Nonetheless, I’m still glad that Fernandez brought Jo to life because she was a wonderful character. I loved her determination and vulnerability as she tries to sell her late brother-in-law’s work despite the obstacles in front of her. It’s one thing that she has no prior knowledge in marketing art, but on top of that, she is Theo’s widow and lives in a time, in which a woman’s place is supposed to be in the home, and Vincent was seen as crazy and deemed not worthy enough in the art world. But still, she’s determined to promote Vincent’s paintings not only to secure her son Vincentje’s inheritance, but also to show people who her brother-in-law truly was. Jo can be seen as nosy while interacting with various art dealers, which gets her into trouble, but she needed to be in order for Vincent to be recognized. 

In addition, I like how Fernandez displays how Jo’s focus on selling could be lonely for her. During the novel, her family and friends raise concerns about how isolating Jo is with her work. Overtime, she finds a way to balance being a mother, running a boardhouse, having time for herself, going to socialist meetings, and marketing Vincent’s paintings.

Even though the book is called Saving Vincent: A Novel of Jo Van Gogh, some chapters are told through Georges Raulf’s perspective. Raulf is a fictional character who stands in for all of the adversaries that Jo faced while promoting her late relative’s work. While he has his reasons for blocking every possible avenue for Jo to display the paintings, his actions can come off a bit too cartoony. This is why the novel can feel a little too melodramatic at times even though it’s already serious. Regardless, I enjoyed it whenever he got his comeuppance, especially in the second half.

The best part of this book was the research into Vincent Van Gogh’s life and how it explores why he appealed to many people even to this day. It’s apparent that Fernandez took plenty of time to dive deep into the artist himself. She references many of his paintings from his best-known to the most obscure and his letters to his brother/Jo’s husband Theo. Each section includes a quote from Vincent regarding a specific art piece and shows the work in question on the next page. Additionally, the author does a great job in showing how Jo gradually understands what made Vincent unique. There are plenty of scenes where she reads his letters and is moved by his words. Through this, she gets why Vincent wanted to paint the ordinary since he found extraordinary things in them. She soon realizes that she feels the same way on certain things like how she agrees with Vincent on how socialism can improve people’s lives. 

When it comes to Vincent’s mental health, Fernandez handles this delicately. His “madness” looms all over the book. As mentioned before, past art dealers rarely wanted to work with Vincent because of his behavior. Vincent’s mother asserts that madness runs in the family, which is sadly proven when his sister Wil is committed to an asylum later in the book. Jo often ponders if her son Vincentje has that too. Despite barely knowing him, Jo is able to see Vincent as he was – a man who went against the grain – in his letters.

Saving Vincent: A Novel of Jo Van Gogh by Joan Fernandez is a wonderful book about a relatively unknown woman who made a difference in the art world. Jo Van Gogh is fleshed out and displays many colors just like her brother-in-law’s paintings. Easily, the best part of this novel is how it investigates what made Vincent Van Gogh appealing to a wider audience while being respectful to his mental health. I would recommend this to readers who love art, historical fiction, and stories about women breaking societal norms. Saving Vincent: A Novel of Jo Van Gogh will be tomorrow, April 15, so make sure you get it at your local bookstore or library.

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