Lust for Life (novel) Lust for Life (novel) Lust for Life (1934) is a biographical novel written by Irving Stone based on the life of the famous Dutch painter, Vincent van Gogh, and his hardships. It was adapted into a film of the same name starring Kirk Douglas, which was nominated for four Academy Awards, winning one. It is 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. They lay the foundation for most of what is known about the thoughts and beliefs of the artist. Stone
The Letters of Vincent van Gogh was initiated by the Van Gogh Museum. The project consists of a complete annotated collection of letters written by and to Vincent. In the last days of December 1901, running through January 1902, Bruno Cassirer and his cousin Paul Cassirer organized the first van Gogh exhibition in Berlin, Germany. Paul Cassirer first established a market for van Gogh, and then, with the assistance of Johanna van Gogh-Bonger, controlled market prices. In 1906 Bruno Cassirer published a small volume of selected letters of Vincent's to Theo van Gogh, translated into German. Of the 844 surviving letters that van Gogh wrote, 663