Lust for Life (novel)

Lust for Life (1934) is a biographical novel by Irving Stone about the life of the Dutch painter Vincent van Gogh and his hardships.^[1] It was Stone's first major publication, and is largely based on the collection of letters between Vincent van Gogh and his younger brother, art dealer Theo van Gogh.^[2] This correspondence lays the foundation for most of what is known about the thoughts and beliefs of the artist.^[3]^[4] Stone conducted a large amount of "on-field" research for the novel, as is mentioned in the afterword.

The narrative of Lust for Life creates origin-stories for many of the artist's famous paintings. including

Sunflowers. Stone wanted to explain Van Gogh's difficult life and how he began, flourished, and died as a painter. People close to Van Gogh's life, like Paul Gauguin

, are also characters in the novel.

The book is divided into nine smaller "books", titled based on the places Van Gogh lived:

St. Remy

, and Auvers.

The novel was adapted into a 1956 film of the same name starring Kirk Douglas, which was nominated for four Academy Awards, winning one.