Lust for Life (1956)
Kirk Douglas, Anthony Quinn, James Donald, Pamela Brown, Everett Sloane, Niall MacGinnis, Noel Purcell, Henry Daniell, Jill Bennett, Lionel Jeffries, Eric Pohlmann
Director: Vincent Minnelli
Oscar: Anthony Quinn
Based on Irving Stone's biography of French painter Vincent Van Gogh (Kirk Douglas) and his painter friend Paul Gaugin (Anthony Quinn).
Historical Background:
Vincent Van Gogh
1852 -- Vincent's brother Vincent Willem was born, but died the very same day.
1853 -- Vincent Willem van Gogh was born in Zundert in a province of the Netherlands. His father was a Protestant minister.
As a child, Vincent was serious, silent and thoughtful.
1857 -- another brother Theodorus (Theo) was born. Vincent's other siblings were: brother Cor and three sisters, Elisabeth, Anna and Wil.
1861-1862 -- at age 8, van Gogh went to the Village School in Zundert.
1863-1864 -- Vincent was educated at home.
1864 (October) - 1865 -- he went to boarding school, Jan Provily in Zevenbergen. Zevenbergen, The Netherlands.
1866 (September) -- Vincent went to the "Rijks HBS Koning Willem II" in Tilburg.
1869 -- at age 16, he took a position with art dealer, Goupil and Co. in the Hague.
1872 (August) -- Vincent began a long correspondence with brother Theo, who would end up supporting Vincent for the rest of his life.
1873 (June) -- Goupil transferred Vincent to London.
1873 -- after four years, Vincent was dismissed from the London office.
1875 -- Goupil transferred Vincent to Paris. He was then transferred to London again.
1876 (March) -- Goupil dismissed him for lack of motivation.
1876 -- Vincent had been developing an interest in religion, the profession of his father, and wanted to teach about the Bible. He was offered a job in a boarding school in Ramsgate, London, while living and teaching at Isleworth.
1880 -- it was brother Theo who suggested Vincent take up painting full-time. He took a few painting lessons from Anton Mauve in the Hague.
1881 -- he moved in with his parents in Etten.
He fell in love with his widowed cousin Ke Vos, but she rejected him. He then turned to life with prostitute Sien Hoornik and her children. He thought about marrying the woman, but his father and Theo would not hear of it. Vincent and Sien separated.
His uncle Cornelis gave him a commission to make a series of 12 views of The Hague.
Vincent decided to paint rural scenes of peasants and farms (influenced by Jean-Francois Millet).
1885 -- living with his parents again, he painted The Potato Eaters. Vincent complained to his brother that Theo was not working hard enough to sell his paintings. Theo urged his brother to paint in the now popular Impressionist style.
1885-1886 (winter) -- Van Gogh attended the art academy of Antwerp but was soon dismissed by his professor. During this time, Vincent began to be influenced by Japanese art.
1886 (spring) -- Vincent and Theo moved in together in Paris. In Paris he met a lot of influential painters, Edgar Degas, Camille Pissarro, Emile Bernard, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec and Paul Gauguin. He now came under the influence of impressionism and pointillism, although van Gogh is known as a post-impressionist. He liked to use complementary colors, especially blue and orange.
1888 (February) -- Van Gogh went to Arles, France. He painted a great many yellow sunflower paintings at this time. He and Paul Gauguin shared some mutual ideas about painting. Their relationship, however, ended in a quarrel Vincent was so upset by the break-up that he began to have a breakdwon.
1888 (December 23) -- Vincent cut off the lower part of his left ear and asked a prostituted to save it for him.
1889 (May) -- Van Gogh suffered from mental problems and he himself asked to be admitted to a psychiatric centre. Here he used swirls in his paintings, such as in his most famous painting, The Starry Night. Meanwhile, Theo had married.
1890 (May) -- Vincent left the clinic. He created his only etching, of his local physician Paul Gachet.
1890 -- at the age of 37, Vincent fell into a deep depression and shot himself in the chest. He died two days later with Theo at his side. Poor Theo died six months later and was buried next to his beloved brother.
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