Andries Bonger, nicknamed "Dries", was Johanna van Gogh-Bonger's

Johanna van Gogh-Bonger

Johanna Gezina van Gogh-Bonger was the wife of Theo van Gogh, art dealer, and the sister-in-law of the painter Vincent van Gogh. After the death of Vincent and her husband she worked assiduously on editing the brothers' correspondence, producing the first volume in Dutch in 1914...

  favorite brother. Bonger was a friend of his future brother-in-law Theo van Gogh

Theo van Gogh (art dealer)

Theodorus "Theo" van Gogh was a Dutch art dealer. He was the younger brother of Vincent van Gogh, and Theo's unfailing financial and emotional support allowed his brother to devote himself entirely to painting...

 in Paris. Through Andries, Jo and Theo met. He also knew Vincent van Gogh

Vincent van Gogh

Vincent Willem van Gogh , and used Brabant dialect in his writing; it is therefore likely that he himself pronounced his name with a Brabant accent: , with a voiced V and palatalized G and gh. In France, where much of his work was produced, it is...

 who called him André in letters.
In a letter that Bonger wrote to his parents on March 31, 1885, he describes [Theo] van Gogh as having received unexpected news the prior week that his father had died due to a "stroke of apoplexy" after having received a letter the previous day that he was in perfect health. He mentioned that Van Gogh was not very strong, and so this was a very melancholy circumstance. In several letters over the remainder of the year Bonger comments on a growing appreciation for and friendship with Van Gogh.

Vincent van Gogh arrived in Paris in 1886 which meant that Bonger saw less of Theo. Bonger expressed his concern that Vincent van Gogh was harsh with his brother, Theo who had begun to look haggard. Theo met Bonger's parents during a visit to the Netherlands about August, 1886.

Bonger went into the insurance business later in Amsterdam. He was an intimate friend of Bertrand-Jean Redon, better known as Odilon Redon

Odilon Redon

Bertrand-Jean Redon, better known as Odilon Redon was a French symbolist painter, printmaker, draughtsman and pastellist.-Life:...

, and owned a large collection of his works. His collection also included works by Van Gogh, Paul Cézanne

Paul Cézanne

Paul Cézanne was a French artist and Post-Impressionist painter whose work laid the foundations of the transition from the 19th century conception of artistic endeavour to a new and radically different world of art in the 20th century. Cézanne can be said to form the bridge between late 19th...

 and Émile Bernard

Émile Bernard

Émile Henri Bernard is known as a Post-Impressionist painter who had artistic friendships with Van Gogh, Gauguin and Eugene Boch, and at a later time, Cézanne. Most of his notable work was accomplished at a young age, in the years 1886 through 1897. He is also associated with Cloisonnism and...

, whom he knew well.