Mrs Van Gogh
A tour de force of research, this biographical novel about Vincent Van Gogh and the life of his pictures beyond his own short span is told from the point of view of Johanna Bonger, who becomes the wife of Vincent’s brother, Theo. Most people know a certain amount about Van Gogh, but his copious surviving letters provide more information. Cauchi very skilfully integrates quotations from these letters with imaginative recreations of scenes from Johanna’s life. Johanna is given a very compelling voice, making her a vivid observer of the Montmartre scene—and a fair reporter of Vincent’s loutish, lecherous behaviour.
The artist, brilliant but anti-social; his devoted exasperated brother; Johanna’s urbane brother Andries; other artists such as Rodin and Gauguin; and the women whose lives (despite artistic talent) are lived at these men’s bidding—all are depicted with immense skill. The short-lived love of Johanna and Theo is shown with great poignancy and conviction. Other scenes show flashes of humour. All the characters jump off the page.
My only reservation is that, in this book with much good dialogue, the language being spoken is seldom specified. I was doubtful that Johanna, whose first foreign language was English, could arrive from the Netherlands and immediately follow demotic Parisian French. Only near the end is the distinction between French and Dutch mentioned, and then with an assumption of mutual fluency. The use of some American phrases—drapes, groomsman—reminded me unhelpfully of those Hollywood films where characters’ different nationalities are denoted solely by the accents with which they speak English.
However, what we have here is by any standards a very fine novel. The book is arranged in only four chapters, but each has numerous shorter scenes, all named after pictures by Van Gogh: I did wonder if an illustrated edition might possibly be produced.
