Rare Van Gogh photo is of Vincent’s brother, say experts

For decades the bright-eyed boy in the photograph was believed to be the legendary artist Vincent Van Gogh at the age of 13. But experts revealed Thursday that the picture is most likely not the Dutch “Sunflowers” painter but his brother Theo, who was 15 at the time.

The Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam announced the shock discovery about what was previously thought to be one of only two photos of Vincent, and which has appeared in dozens of books. “With this discovery we are an illusion poorer and a portrait of Theo richer,” said Axel Rutger, director of the Van Gogh Museum.

“Of course there was a slight twinge of disappointment also because we have so few photographs of Vincent van Gogh and now we have even one less,” he said. The discovery leaves just one known picture of the artist, taken when he was 19 years old. He committed suicide at the age of 37 in 1890 after an emotionally turbulent life, detailed in years of correspondence with Theo, an art dealer who supported the artist emotionally and financially.

“When I heard that this is most likely a picture of my great-grandfather Theo -- and not of Vincent -- I was surprised, but I am glad that the mystery has been solved,” Willem van Gogh, Theo’s great-grandson and an advisor to the board of the Van Gogh Museum, said in a statement.