Double Nickel bags rights, adapts book on Van Gogh’s sister-in-law into miniseries

Self portrait by Dutch artist Vincent van Gogh (courtesy of Van Gogh Musuem)

New York production company Double Nickel Entertainment has picked up rights to adapt a biography about 19th century Dutch artist Vincent van Gogh’s sister-in-law into a miniseries.

Jo van Gogh-Bonger – The Woman Who Made Vincent Famous is written by Hans Luijten with the backing of the Van Gogh Museum in the Netherlands. The Dutch-language book was published is 2019 by Prometheus Publishers and the English translation will be published by Bloomsbury in November.

Gran Torino producer Double Nickel has secured all scripted and documentary rights to the biography and the company’s partners Jenette Kahn (The Book of Henry) and Adam Richman (A Kid Like Jake) are developing it into a limited series.

Double Nickel has had a co-finance and distribution agreement with Comcast-owned European company Sky Studios since 2017. A Sky rep told C21 that if the Jo van Gogh-Bonger series gets commissioned, Sky Studios will have the option to co-finance and distribute.

Van Gogh-Bonger was married to Vincent’s brother Theo and was left with hundreds of Van Gogh’s paintings when the Dutch artist died. She then promoted his works and is credited with making the art world recognise their value.

Luijten, who is senior researcher at the Van Gogh Museum and co-author of several books on Van Gogh, will be an executive producer on the series along with Double Nickel. “Having spoken to Double Nickel in detail, I am confident they will do Jo’s story justice,” he said.

Also attached to the project are Michael Taylor as co-executive producer and Russell Shorto as coproducer.

“We were so inspired by Jo when we read Hans’s book,” said Richman and Kahn in a joint statement. “We know audiences will be thrilled by this remarkable feminist story of passion, love and art.”