Lust for Life is a biographical film about the life of Dutch painter Vincent van Gogh [1853-1890] (played by Kirk Douglas), starting with his missionary assignment in a coal-mining village in Belgium in 1879 until his death by suicide.
Lust for Life is also a 1934 biographical novel written by American writer Irving Stone, known for his biographical novels of famous historical personalities. The story is largely based on letters that Vincent Van Gogh wrote to his brother Theo (played by James Donald).
The movie addresses this scenario, although it doesn't show him actually doing the cutting.
French painter Paul Gauguin [1848-1903] spent nine weeks in 1888 painting together with van Gogh in Arles. After leaving Arles, Gauguin traveled around, ending up in Tahiti where he became known more for his sexual excesses than for his painting. He died of a heart attack in Hiva Ola, French Polynesia at the age of 54.
