Take a look at two YouTube videos that feature Virginia Woolf.

An historical approach

The first, “Virginia Woolf: A Night’s Darkness, A Day’s Sail,” takes an historical approach.

It includes photographs of the Stephen family, Talland House, St. Ives and more. It also includes a brief interview with Leonard Woolf, along with interviews with others who knew Virginia.

I found it via the Facebook group “Virginia Woolf and Her Waves of Thought.” It clocks in at 50 minutes.

A whimsical approach

The second, “The Mysterious Gift to Virginia Woolf,” takes a whimsical approach.

It introduces an imaginative new play by the same name that features a mysterious painting by Virginia’s sister, Vanessa Bell that is titled “Mrs. Dalloway’s Party.” Reserve more than an hour for this one.

More about the painting

Exhibited in 1922, the painting disappeared until British art dealer Anthony d’Offay offered it in 1983 from the estate of Virginia Woolf.

For more background on the painting, listen to a 2023 27-minute podcast “Mrs. Dalloway’s Party,” that features Dr. Karina Jakubowicz. In it, she speaks with the painting’s owner, Howard Ginsberg. She also interviews the bestselling author of Bloomsbury Pie: The Making of the Bloomsbury Room, Regina Marler, as they discuss paintings and parties in 1920s Bloomsbury.