Leading from the Middle

Caption: Top: Vincent on left, brother Theo on right. Both by Vincent Van Gogh. Bottom: Johanna Bonger (Van Gogh) by Johan Cohen Gosschalk, 1905. Johanna published Vincent's letters to Theo following the deaths of both brothers.

This is more of a place keeper than the full blog. I am in the Latvian countryside leading a seminar from Aug 25-28 on Leading Change or as they say in Latvian: Pārmaiņu Vadība. Off to a great start, in the rain and wind yesterday; today promising sunshine. Good spirits among these 13 participants.
But, back to Theo Van Gogh, younger brother to Vincent. I have a Van Gogh calendar, the weekly kind, bound with illustrations and commentary on each pictured print. He was a frequent correspondent with Vincent and offered him unstinting support throughout his short but brilliant life. Vincent’s letters to Theo include descriptions of what the artist was seeing, experiencing and doing. Theo’s wife, Johanna , also played a role in friendship and support for the struggling artist. The couple bought Vincent’s work – a few others did as well – but Joanna took it a step further; she followed Vincent’s suggestions on how the art should be displayed. I believe that kind act had to bolster Vincent’s confidence and commitment to his vision. I want to develop this theme of support and what it means to anyone in a low spot of one’s life.
So more on that soon. For the now, back to the seminar.

@Copyright 2014 John Lubans

 

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