They both had difficulties at school, both "rejected society's prevailing norms" and were "socially engaged and very creative," and "struggled with their mental health, which they discussed openly with each other.

"[5] When her brother Theo married Jo van Gogh-Bonger, who was later to play such a crucial role in promoting Vincent's posthumous reputation,[6] Wil was helpful to the couple, staying with them in Paris.

"[8] Unlike her other two sisters, she was close to Vincent and the two wrote each other frequently, about art and literature, but also about their own mental health struggles.

He wrote Wil that the physician their brother Theo had sent to examine him said he was not insane, nor did alcohol precipitate moodiness, but that his seizures were epileptic, also an affliction of his mother's sister.

After Vincent's death, Wil wrote a letter to her brother Theo, saying in part, "We should not begrudge him his peace, but how hard it will be for you.

After the death of her brothers in 1890 and 1891, she undertook studies to become a scripture teacher, passing her entrance exam in theology education in September 1890, and qualifying in 1893.

The library's collection contained books on socio-economic issues, held magazine and periodical subscriptions, and was a meeting place for women in The Hague.

"[17] No sources record what happened, but on 4 December 1902 Wil van Gogh was interned and later transferred to the House Veldwijk, a psychiatric institution at Ermelo.

She has refused food for years and has to be fed artificially...[18]Wil van Gogh remained at Ermelo for almost four decades before she died there on 17 May 1941.

[20] Renate Berger asserts that Wil van Gogh shared the fate of many "sisters of well-known men" at the time.