👨🏾‍💻 @rhaynecoleman.bsky.social

Van Gogh died broke because nobody wanted his paintings. He sold maybe one during his entire life. The art world thought his style was too immature. His brother Theo, an art dealer, kept him alive by sending money constantly. When Van Gogh passed in 1890, his brother, Theo died just six months later. That left Theo's wife Jo as a 28 year old widow with a baby and about 900 paintings nobody wanted, plus hundreds of letters. Here's what actually mattered. Van Gogh had written hundred of letters letters to Theo and Jo explaining individual paintings and his life as an artist. He told them the stories behind each work, what he was trying to express, what each one meant to him. After both brothers died, Jo remembered these letters and published them. That's what made him famous. People could read Van Gogh's own words about each painting. The works stopped being random art and became stories he had experienced. The paintings got context directly from him explaining what he was doing. Jo gave the world Van Gogh's voice attached to his work. By the time she died in 1925, he had gone from total unknown to art historical icon.