Some time ago I read the novel Lust for life by Irving Stone.

This novel impressed me

very much because it presents the torments of Vincent Van Gogh to find the balance and
the purpose in life.
This biographic novel is based on the hundreds of letters written by Vincent to his
brother Theo.
Until this book all I knew about Van Gogh is that he was a well-known Dutch painter
who cut his ear and who had mental problems and after I read it I found out that his life
was colorful but still full of pain.
Van Gogh was born in 1853 and grew up in Holland. He was raised in a religious family
with his father being a priest. When his school ended, Vincent followed his uncles
profession and became an art dealer in the art galleries Goupil. Vincent was successful
and initially happy with his work. However, he soon grew tired of the business art and lost
the interest in the trade.
At 21 he fell in love for the first time for Ursula but the unshared feelings makes him
to leave England forever. Back in Holland he believed that his true calling was to preach
the gospel. He became preacher in Borinage (Belgium), where the miners worked from
morning to night to take out few pounds of coal to surface. Here is strongly impressed by
the hard life and after some sad events come to live as poor as they , sleeping on the
floor and covered with sackcloth. Here discovered that he likes to draw.
Theo, his brother get him out of the misery and sent him in Holland to recover. He falls in
love with his cousin Kay, who will reject him brutally. He goes to Hague to learn art
painting from the master Mauve.
He returns to his parents house and for the first time start to paint in color, its models
were peasants and weavers. In Neunen will paint his famous painting The Potato Eaters
(1885).
Potato Eaters

In 1886 , he went in Paris to join his brother Theo, the manager of Goupils gallery . In
Paris , Van Gogh studied with Cormon , inevitably met Pissaro, Monet and Gaugin. Having
met the new Impressionist painters, he tried to imitate their techniques; he began to
lighten his very dark palette and to paint in the short brushstrokes of the Impressionists
style. Unable to successfully copy the style, he developed his own more bold and
unconventional style.
Van Gogh worked at a feverish pace costing him money, causing him mental and physical
stress and leaving him no time for any other source of income. But he was persistent .
In 1888, Van Gogh decided to go south to Arles where he hoped his friends would join him
and help found a school of art. At The Yellow House, van Gogh hoped like-minded artists
could create together.

Vase with Fifteen Sunflowers (1888)

Gauguin did join him but with disastrous results. Van Goghs nervous temperament made
him a difficult companion and night-long discussions combined with painting all day
undermined his health. Near the end of 1888, an incident led Gauguin to ultimately leave
Arles. Van Gogh pursued him with an open razor, was stopped by Gauguin, but ended up
cutting a portion of his own ear lobe off. Van Gogh then began to alternate between fits of
madness and lucidity and was sent to the asylum in Saint-Remy for treatment.
In May of 1890, after a couple of years at the asylum, he seemed much better and went
to live in Auvers-sur-Oise under the watchful eye of Dr. Gachet. Two months later, he died

from what is believed to have been a self-inflicted gunshot wound "for the good of all."
During his brief career, he did not experience much success, he sold only one painting,
lived in poverty, malnourished and overworked. The money he had was supplied by his
brother, Theo, and was used primarily for art supplies, coffee and cigarettes.
Van Gogh's finest works were produced in less than three years in a technique that grew
more and more.
Vincent van Gogh died at the age of 37 bringing his career as a painter to an end, but
beginning his legacy as the great painter of the future who inspired the world.
Irises (1889)- is on the list of the most expensive paintings ever sold , selling for 54
million dollars in 1987