"This film attempts to retrace solely through his paintings the life and spiritual adventure of one of the greatest modern painters." "The genius and importance of VINCENT VAN GOGH are today universally recognized." "And yet, VAN GOGH had to struggle and work hopelessly in the face of poverty and total indifference in his attempt to reach the absolute truth he glimpsed." "Commentary read by CLAUDE DAUPHIN" "Music by JACQUES BESSE" "I feel as though I am always travelling towards some unknown destination." "Vincent van Gogh (letter to his brother)" "December, 1883" "The cold weighs down on the swampy plain." "At the end of the road, in Nuenen, a little Flemish village, a few poor houses huddle together against the cold." "A man knocks on the door of his father's vicarage." "Vincent Van Gogh, son of Theodore Van Gogh, pastor of Nuenen, had returned." "He was a preacher but he preached badly," "The violence of his faith frightened even the faithful." "It was in the process of trying to find a way to express his love for mankind that he discovered himself to be a painter." "For him, his native land became a picture book." "He sought to bear witness through his painting to the miserable poverty of the peasants." "He observed objects and people intently, with the same love." "But he soon grew tired of painting this sad and silent country." "Other horizons called out to him." "Leaving Nuenen one November evening," "Van Gogh, alone, set out to meet his destiny." "Paris welcomed him." "An immense city, filled with hope and promises where he was finally able to exercise his intense curiosity." "A small apartment on rue Victor Massé," "a new palette, new paints" "and some new books to read." "In the streets and cafés of Montmartre he met other artists," "Lautrec, Seurat, Gauguin." "Everywhere, new men in search of a new kind of art." "But on some solitary evenings the egoism of the big city weighed on him." "He dreamed of other, deeper joys, of a different light." "The Japanese prints in P. Tanguy's store haunted him." "Just as he had fled Holland's marshes he now abandoned the grey skies of Paris" "fleeing towards the sun." "This time it was no dream, no Japanese print." "The sun burned, and the flowers waited to be picked." "Provence, the end of his journey." "In the countryside of Arles, along the roads," "Van Gogh watched everything with growing enthusiasm" "The colors vibrated in the overheated air." "People and things seem to merge in the dazzling sun." "Each evening, he returned in a fever to his solitary room." "Sometimes neighbors or friends came to pose for him." "Under the veil of a false calm he painted without quarter, with no care for himself." "One day, Van Gogh felt the true appearance of things suddenly escape him." "On Christmas night, the tension broke." "In a fit of madness" "Van Gogh sliced off his own ear." "The doors of the asylum closed behind him." "A garden surrounded by walls an unaccustomed silence" "a nerve-wracking peace and quiet." "A nature where every single thing becomes an omen" "He must paint, however, even if only the hospital rooms." "To always continue to paint even when imprisoned by yourself and by others..." "The doctor announced that Van Gogh's condition was improving." "and they open the doors of the asylum." "He escaped." "Nature slapped him in the face" "I must paint, paint the song of the world" "The world turns so quickly, how can I capture it?" "You can't play with fire and not get burned and they don't call them SUNflowers for nothing." "Having reached the pinnacle of his art," "Van Gogh, victorious, stopped, frozen with vertigo." "Worn out, he took refuge in Isle de France, at Auvers-sur-Oise." "The quiet thatch houses resembled those of his childhood village but the same old fire burned again in him." "To finally be able to give in to this long-sought peace" "He had long since given up everything, except his work." "After barely six years of non-stop work," "on July 27, 1890, too young to know his glory, but sure of its coming, in the middle of a field, in front of his easel" "Van Gogh shot himself in the heart."