From Publishers Weekly
In this readable and engaging biography, authors Ozanne and De Jode examine the complicated, passionate relationship between the Van Gogh brothers and pose the question: could Vincent have become the Van Gogh without his brother’s financial aid and emotional support? The book follows the lesser-known Theo from his sheltered, bucolic childhood to his immense but wearying success as an art dealer in bohemian Paris, where he befriended and patronized such avant-garde legends as Toulouse-Lautrec and Gauguin. Until his death at the age of 33, only six months after his brother’s tragic suicide, he remained Vincent’s chief financier, closest confidante and staunchest ally. Without losing their focus on Theo, the authors provide an intimate look into this unique fraternal bond and offer remarkable insight into Vincent’s troubled life. Readers may resent the authors’ excessive summaries of correspondence between the brothers and wish for more of the real thing. However, the book effectively captures the affections, jealousies and conflicts of this remarkable pair, and is an intriguing read for any Van Gogh aficionado.Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist
Vincent Van Gogh's severe depression is well documented, but scant attention has been paid to the suffering of his younger brother, Theo. Remembered, and rightly so, as his brother's keeper, Theo is a worthy subject in his own right, and Ozanne and de Jode evoke his remarkably generous and self-effacing spirit in a rapidly consumed yet lingeringly powerful portrait. The brothers forged an "extraordinary friendship" within a pious and poor family. Both worked in art galleries, a calling Theo excelled at, while Vincent left to follow a more spiritual path, one that led to painting. Theo took his responsibilities as a provider seriously, and in spite of deep frustration and high anxiety on the job, so sensitively conveyed by the authors, maintained his precarious position with a prestigious gallery and loyally supported his unstable, increasingly irrational, yet gifted brother. Tragically, syphilis killed this champion of the avant-garde at 33, just six months after Vincent's suicide, leaving it to Theo's wife, Johanna, to ensure that Vincent's magnificent paintings received the lasting recognition they deserved. Donna Seaman
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Book Description
Would Vincent have been Vincent without Theo? Theo: The Other Van Gogh is a revealing biography of Vincent's stubbornly loyal younger brother. Shedding light on their profoundly intimate relationship, born in boyhood, the authors tell the poignant story of two brothers who had a profound impact on the art world. Theo van Gogh, like Vincent before him, followed in the family tradition of art dealing and joined Goupil & Cie, one of the leading international art dealers in 1873. Goupil, recognizing his ability, transferred Theo from The Hague to Paris in 1880, where he developed influential friendships with Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Emile Bernard, and other emerging stars of the Parisian avant-garde. Shrewdly, Theo persuaded Goupil to exhibit Seurat, Signac, Monet, Renoir, Pissarro, Redon, Sisley and Degas, and purchased works by Gauguin and Toulouse-Lautrec for his own collection. His keen instincts regarding art would only be recognized long after his death when the world would discover and eventually greatly admire the artists he exhibited and supported. In 1881, following a rupture with their father, Theo became Vincent's sole source of financial support despite his meager salary. Following the death of their father in 1886 Vincent and Theo lived together in Montmartre, the wild neighborhood in Paris that was home to scores of cafés and cabarets frequented by artists and writers. Theo's private life in Paris was extremely dissipated even by the Bohemian standards of the fin-de-siècle, and it was during this period that Theo presumably contracted syphilis, symptoms of which plagued him his entire life. Despite health problems and financial difficulties, he never deviated from his devotion and support of his brother. Their voluminous correspondence reveals Theo's encouraging words, giving his brother advice regarding his life and his art. Backed by previously unpublished letters from the Van Gogh Museum archives, the publication of Theo brings a fresh eye to the family dynamics from which these two extraordinary beings emerged, and explores the unwavering, but complex affection between the two brothers. Once the younger brother who looked up to his successful elder but over time Theo became Vincent's caretaker and ally. If today we know the transcendent works of Vincent van Gogh, it is only because of Theo. Theo: The Other Van Gogh brings out of history's-and Vincent's shadow-a man as fascinating for his character and ability to love, as for his unique contribution to the history of art.

About the Author
Marie-Angélique Ozanne is a journalist who writes for Nouvel Observateur, La Gazette de l'Hotel Drouot, Marie-France, and French Vogue. Frédérique de Jode is a Paris-based critic who writes for French magazines and newspapers, including Nouvel Observateur, DS, Marie-France, Vogue, and Paris-Match.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

Theo: The Other Van Gogh is a revealing biography of Vincent's stubbornly loyal younger brother. Shedding light on their profoundly intimate relationship, born in boyhood, the authors tell the poignant story of two brothers who had a lasting impact on the art world.

FROM THE CRITICS

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