Episode 11 of Gateway Books by Crestance explores how one woman’s quiet dedication preserved one of the world’s most iconic legacies. We begin with Marta Molnar’s historical novel The Secret Life of Sunflowers, which imagines Johanna van Gogh-Bonger’s fight to secure Vincent van Gogh’s place in history. Then we turn to Vincent and Theo by Deborah Heiligman, a portrait of brotherhood and creative resilience, and Portrait of Dr. Gachet by Cynthia Saltzman, an investigation into the most expensive painting ever sold and the fraught world of art, ownership, and authenticity.

These stories remind us that legacy is not inevitable—it’s built, protected, and passed on.