Lust for Life was filmed, and was released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in September 1956. Produced by John Houseman and directed by Vincente Minnelli, it was designed and promoted primarily as an extravaganza.

The stars, Kirk Douglas as Van Gogh and Anthony Quinn as his contemporary and friend, Gauguin, helped the film gain a rather successful box office return. The film's critical reception was mixed, as was Stone's novel, with some critics admiring its visual effects and others complaining that, since lives of artists or great men can't be told honorably within the limits of popular entertainment, Van Gogh was presented as less than heroic. Basically, the complaining critics' accusation was that the public is made to look at Van Gogh, a great artist, with shallow eyes.

Perhaps this criticism is more of popular biography's art form than of this particular picture. The critics agreed, however, that Lust for Life came...