The voice is just right, the style is magnificent, the book is astonishing
—Elle magazine
It is a little known fact that Théo van Gogh died only six months after his older brother Vincent’s suicide. C’etait mon frère is Judith Perrignon’s lyrical account based on actual historical records.
In his own words, Théo tries to absolve the pain of Vincent’s recent loss by telling the story of his beloved older brother’s life. Based on the real letters Théo sent his sibling, the relationship between Théo and Vincent comes to life. It becomes clear that their lives were inextricably bound to each other, as well as to their cousin Kee, to a prostitute named Sien, and to their mother. In the telling Théo recounts his relentless efforts to try to awaken the world to his brother’s genius, including during the last years of his life, when his broken mind failed him. Théo goes on to talk about Vincent’s funeral, and continues to narrate his own story over the next six months, before he succumbed to dementia, and had to enter a psychiatric hospital.
Despite being a work of fiction, My Brother Vincent is both a labor of love and a work of serious historical research. Perrignon read every document she could find on Vincent and Théo van Gogh and she teamed up with specialists at the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam. The museum granted her access to Théo’s letters to Vincent, the personal archives of the Van Gogh family, friends, and Théo’s medical records.