This is one of Grant’s most striking portraits of Vanessa Bell. It was painted at Charleston during the Second World War, around the time Grant and Bell conceived their first and only child, Angelica. It is painted on a substantial, thick-panelled wooden board, most likely a repurposed door - both artists were particularly resourceful and opportunistic during these wartime years.

Bell is shown seated, wearing an evening dress and a red cloche hat; beside her is a curtain made from a toile de jouy acquired in Paris. In both scale and composition, The Red Hat is a standout example in Grant’s oeuvre from this period and shows the striking deployment of stylistic and compositional traits inspired by French modernism and the School of Paris. Staring straight out at the viewer with a still, serious expression, the present work has echoes of Cézanne’s portrait Madame Cézanne in a Red Dress [fig. 1]. Cézanne’s paintings dominated the 1910 and 1912 Post-Impressionist exhibitions staged by Roger Fry, and his artistic theories became intrinsic to Grant’s artistic development. Although it is unlikely that Grant ever saw Cezanne’s portrait in person, he may have been familiar with it through an illustration included in Ambrose Vollard’s Cezanne published in 1914.

Although Grant painted several portraits of Bell at this date, this work is distinguished by its ambition, scale and presence. It shows a departure, if only momentarily, from the use of intense colour which typified his work from the preceding years, with a greater emphasis on emotional connection and visual narrative.

The work was included in Grant’s retrospective exhibition in 1959 and remained in his possession until his death.