Van Gogh in Paris

Contemporary research and museum websites worldwide have shed new light on Vincent van Gogh's formative years in Paris. Nicholas Vazzana has blended history and fiction to show the profound transformation of one of the world's great artists during his two-year stay in Paris' Montmartre quarter. The thirty-three-year-old Dutchman's painting style, formerly rooted in the gray, cold north, evolves into an unrestrained, colorful brilliance under Parisian influences. In addition to changing his painting style, Van Gogh grows as a social being, mingling with prominent artists and lively bohemians in the city's cafés and bistros, where he exchanges dialogue with such notables as Henri Toulouse Lautrec and Emile Zola. But his turbulent love affair with Agostina Segatori, the owner of Cafe du Tambourin, changes Van Gogh's view of love and leads to a violent, dangerous confrontation. Van Gogh in Paris intimately reveals Van Gogh's "lost years," when he was [or is] seduced by sensual decadence, unbridled sexual freedom, and absinthe, known as the green fairy. As a professional artist, Vazzana incorporates his knowledge of the masters into his novel, adding texture and passion to Van Gogh's fascinating life.