Irving Stone (born Tannenbaum, July 14, 1903, San Francisco, California ? August 26, 1989, Los Angeles, California) was an American writer known for his biographical novels of famous historical personalities, including Lust for Life, a biographical novel about the life of Vincent van Gogh, and The Agony and the Ecstasy, a biographical novel about Michelangelo.

The novel, Lust for Life was largely based on the letters Vincent Van Gogh wrote to his brother Theo. Irving also conducted a large amount of "on-field" research as is mentioned in the afterword of the book. The book is famous for the way it describes the origins of many of Vincent's famous paintings like The Potato Eaters, Sunflowers and others. Irving Stone wanted to explain the difficult life and how he began, flourished, and died as a painter.

In 1956, a film version was made of Lust for Life, based on his 1934 novel. It was directed by Vincente Minnelli and produced by John Houseman. The film stars Kirk Douglas as Van Gogh, James Donald as his brother Theo, Pamela Brown, Everett Sloane, and Anthony Quinn, who won an Oscar for his performance as Van Gogh's fast friend and rival Paul Gauguin.