Cover
Halftitle page
Title page
Copyright page
Contents
Introduction' An Amsterdam girl'
Turning points in Jo's life
An Amsterdam girl
Sources for the research
Part One A respectable middle-class family-the Bongers
1 A carefree childhood in a harmonious family
Parents and family
Sisters and brothers
A family with a measured lifestyle
2 HBS and training asan English teacher
Andries as a role model
Seeking insight into herself
The road to greater independence-studying English
London
Again: self-knowledge and self-criticism

Back in Amsterdam
3 Translator, teacher and love for Eduard Stumpff
Teacher at the Kinsbergen Institute in Elburg
Literature as a mirror
Love for Eduard Stumpff
Teacher at the Anna Vondel Institute
Teacher at the Utrecht HBS for girls
First to Seraing, later to Paris after all
Part Two Initiation intoart-the Van Goghs
4 Prelude to her marriage to Theo van Gogh
The engagement
Thoughts about marriage
The new home
5 Married life and motherhood in Paris
Life in Paris
Discussions about art
Pregnancy
A lack of artistic sensibility

The run-up to the birth
A bouncing baby boy
6 Life with the duality of Theo and Vincent
The first time Jo met Vincent
Tensions and strife
Recuperation in the Netherlands
Sorrow and guilt
Powerless eyewitness to Theo's decline
Three tense months
Jo's new task
Part Three Boarding house keeper with an attic full of art
7 Back in the Netherlands-Villa Helma in Bussum
Hundreds of works from Paris
The young boarding house keeper
Finances
The legacy
Friendships in Bussum
Getting Vincent's work as widely seen as possible
Contacts and intermediaries

Organizing Vincent's letters
8 Contacts with Jan Veth, Jan Toorop and Richard Roland Holst
Jan Veth must come round
Vincent's work gains recognition
Van Gogh in The Hague and Antwerp
Success in Amsterdam
Van Gogh's letters in the Mercure de France
Van Gogh in Denmark
Karel Alberdingk Thijm
An influential contact: Ambroise Vollard
9 Playing with fire-Isaac Israëls
Renewed acquaintance
'My lovely young body'
Sense of duty to the family and her little son
Van Gogh in Groningen, Rotterdam and Haarlem
Translator for De Kroniek

The women's movement and feminism
The end of the first decade in Bussum
Part Four Second marriage and concentrated promotion of Van Gogh's work
10 Johan Cohen Gosschalk-VillaE ikenhof in Bussum
The laborious run-up to marriage
Second marriage
Van Gogh exhibitions until the summer of 1905
11 Reviewing books and promoting Van Gogh-back in Amsterdam
Paintings sold for Willemien van Gogh
Friendships
Works by Van Gogh in Breda
The first Van Gogh in a Dutch museum
Physical discomfort
A pioneering study on modern art
Back in Amsterdam