“Mrs. Dalloway’s Party” (1920) by Vanessa Bell
In 1920 Virginia Woolf’s sister Vanessa Bell painted “Mrs Dalloway’s Party,” a painting that quickly became shrouded in mystery.
Exhibited briefly in 1922, the highly praised painting disappeared until British art dealer Anthony d’Offay offered it in 1983 from the estate of Virginia Woolf. It then vanished for more than 60 years until it turned up in a sale of items from Woolf’s estate.
Questions
Questions about the painting are many. If it was a gift to Virginia, why did she hide it away? Vanessa Bell paintings were usually still lives, but this one clearly depicts a narrative. What is the story she wanted to show? Are the figures real people? If so who are they?
The preliminary title of Virginia Woolf’s most famous novel, Mrs Dalloway, published five years later, was The Party, so was there a connection between painting and novel?
Howard Ginsberg has offered an intriguing explanation for these unanswered questions in his latest play, “The Mysterious Gift to Virginia Woolf.”
Watch the free recording of an online reading of this play on YouTube.
More about the painting
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 Ginsberg, the painting’s owner.
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.
