Israels Letters
Israels Letters offers a digital, fully accessible edition of all surviving letters and postcards written by the artist Isaac Israëls (1865–1934) to Jo van Gogh-Bonger (1862–1925), the wife of Theo and sister-in-law of Vincent van Gogh. The letters have been made accessible by the Huygens Institute in collaboration with the Van Gogh Museum under the direction of editor Hans Luijten.
Image: Isaac Israëls, Woman Reading with Red Hat next to Van Gogh’s Sunflowers, 1915-1920 (detail). Amsterdam, Van Gogh Museum (Vincent van Gogh Foundation).
The letters provide a unique insight into a cordial friendship and early appreciation of Vincent van Gogh’s work. Israëls writes candidly and with an eye for detail about art, literature, music, love and friendship, and regularly expresses his admiration for Van Gogh, whose use of colour fascinated him from an early age.
The 103 letters (88 letters, 13 postcards and 2 picture postcards) come from a family archive and were made available in 2008 for research into Alles voor Vincent, the biography by Jo van Gogh-Bonger, published in 2019. Since then, they have been part of the collection of the Vincent van Gogh Foundation, managed by the Van Gogh Museum. For the digital edition, all letters have been carefully transcribed and provided with context, explanations and images of works mentioned.
The digital edition offers:
· Scans and readable texts
· Explanations of people, places and events
· Illustrations and references to works by Israëls and Van Gogh mentioned in the letters