Intermingling the beauty of literary fiction and the conciseness of a biography, in La viuda de los Van Gogh (“The Widow of the van Goghs”) Camilo Sánchez shows us a new side to the famous painter, which we have never imagined.

Paris 1890: Johanna van Gogh Bonger is married to Vincent van Gogh’s younger brother Theo. When van Gogh commits suicide, Theo soon dies of grief. Johanna regains part of the painter‘s vast œuvre, including his letters to Theo, and gradually discovers a new Vincent van Gogh, one who could also write beautifully. An educated woman who reads Shelley, Johanna opens a pension for travellers in a Dutch village, something unheard of for a single mother in those times. As she makes a success of part of van Gogh‘s drawings after years of ridicule from the critics, her life changes completely.

Reminiscent of the successful movie The Girl with the Pearl Earring, Camilo Sánchez paints a vivid portrait of turn-of-the-century Europe, moving from Paris to Brussels to Amsterdam. Insightful and authentic, La viuda de los Van Gogh is an unforgettable read.