Vincent van Gogh’s story shows the indomitable strength of human spirit. His teachers and fellow painters didn't look at him seriously - his lines were never straight, he didn't study human anatomy, his colours were chaotic and his style was very childish. He was laughed at, mocked, being called 'Le Fou Roux' - the red fool, being rejected by women he loved, he was an embarrassment to his family. But beneath those vibrant brushstrokes, swirling colours and breathtaking landscapes lies another story, a tragedy of heartbreak and pain, poverty and mental illness. Van Gogh may have suffered from anxiety, absinthe addiction, and debilitating seizures, but his suffering gave him insight, and that insight, in turn, gave the world a new kind of art called Post-Impressionism.Īs a painter, Vincent Van Gogh secured his place in history as one of the most iconic artists to have ever lived. The idea of the tortured artist has long been debated in our culture, and you can’t say the words tortured artist without Vincent Van Gogh coming to mind. The fact that these celebrated artists chose not to recoil in passive suffering and instead turned their sorrow into something the world would cherish, made them great artists.

No other novel of a great man's life has so fascinated the American public for generations.Great artists are not in a constant state of depression and pain, they become great artists in spite of it. Finally, it shows us Van Gogh driven mad, tragic, and triumphant at once. The novel takes us from his desperate days in a coal mine in southern Belgium to his dazzling years in the south of France, where he knew the most brilliant artists (and the most depraved whores). Here is his tempestuous story: his dramatic life, his fevered loves for both the highest-born women and the lowest prostitutes, and his paintings-for which he was damned before being proclaimed a genius. The most famous of all of Stone's novels, it is the story of Vincent Van Gogh-brilliant painter, passionate lover, and alleged madman. Since its initial publication in 1934, Irving Stone's Lust for Life has been a critical success, a multimillion-copy bestseller, and the basis for an Academy Award-winning movie.

The classic, bestselling biographical novel of Vincent Van Gogh Description 'A story of excruciating power.'- The New York Times

Lust for life by irving stone