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. AtThe 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 hishealth. 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 ofDr. 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