As an adolescent, she came under the influence of the non-conformist writer Multatuli, author of the satirical, nineteenth-century anti-colonial novel Max Havelaar. She stayed some months in London, working in the British Museum library. Unlike her elder sisters, who did household duties, Jo, a 'cheerful and lively child,' was permitted to further her education by studying English, and earning the equivalent of a college degree. The family was musical, holding evening performances of quartets, and Jo (also called 'Net') became an accomplished pianist. Her youngest brother, Willem Adriaan Bonger (1876–1940), became an important criminologist. Andries moved to Paris in 1879, and the two regularly exchanged letters. She was especially close to her older brother Andries Bonger (1861-1936). The daughter of Hendrik Christiaan Bonger (1828–1904), an insurance broker, and Hermine Louise Weissman (1831–1905), she was the fifth of seven children. Johanna (Jo) Gezina Bonger was born on 4 October 1862 in Amsterdam in the Netherlands. Formerly a largely unknown and marginalized figure, she is the subject of a new, full-length biography by a major Van Gogh scholar Hans Luijten and her life is now a focus in popular culture. Van Gogh-Bonger became the key player in the growth of Vincent's posthumous fame. As the wife of art dealer Theo van Gogh, she was the sister-in-law of the painter Vincent van Gogh. Johanna (Jo) Gezina van Gogh-Bonger (4 October 1862 – 2 September 1925) was a multilingual Dutch editor and translator of the letters of the van Gogh brothers. Andries Bonger and Willem Bonger (brothers)

The letters of vincent van gogh