Novel Reveals Van Gogh's Fascinating "Lost Years" in Paris

New York, NY, November 19, 2007 --(PR.com)-- The formative Parisian period is the subject of Van Gogh in Paris: A Novel, available today at bookstores and on Amazon.com. Author, Nicholas Vazzana, a painter himself, has blended history and fiction to show the profound transformation of the great artist during his two years in Paris' Montmartre quarter.

According to Vazzana, "Vincent not only developed his painting style in Paris but grew as a social being, mingling with prominent artists and lively bohemians in the city's cafes and bistros, where he drinks with such notable as Henri Toulouse Lautrec, Emile Zola and Emile Bernard. His turbulent love affair with "L'Italienne," Agostina Segatori, the owner of Cafe du Tambourin, would change his view of love and lead to a violently, dangerous confrontation."

Van Gogh in Paris intimately reveals the Dutch artist's "lost years," - a time when very little was known about his life. However, current research, in Europe and the United States, has led to surprising new insights into Van Gogh's stimulating and formative years in the dazzling Paris of the "Belle Epoque," when the City of Light was enjoying its Golden Age of painting, entertainment and pleasure. This new novel provides a remarkable view of the complete man, not the stereotype. Van Gogh in Paris brings out his seduction by Montmartre's sensual decadence, which included unbridled sexual freedom and his addiction to the drink, absinthe, known as "the green fairy."

As a professional oil painter, Nicholas Vazzana incorporates his knowledge of the art masters into his novel, adding texture and passion to Van Gogh's fascinating life. According to the author, "The reader will witness the Dutchman's painting style, formerly rooted in the gray, cold North, evolve into an unrestrained, colorful brilliance under such Parisian influences as Impressionism, Japanese wood prints, and Pointillism. Despite his experimentation with other artists' techniques, Van Gogh never loses his uniquely, expressive style and passionate energy."

Thirty-three-year-old Vincent Van Gogh immigrated to Paris in 1886. Arriving tired and hungry, he looked like a farm laborer as he wandered the streets toward his brother's office. What happened in the next two years, would profoundly change Vincent as a man, as well as an artist.

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