Harold Ancart’s (b.1980, Brussels) paintings, sculptures, and installations are informed by his observation of natural landscapes and built environments. Alluding to a range of art historical sources and often characterised by abstract passages of colour, they are sometimes arranged into multipart tableaux.

After starting out studying political science, he changed paths and graduated with an MFA from École Nationale Supérieure des Arts Visuels de La Cambre, Brussels, in 2007. He now lives and works in Brooklyn, New York.

Despite having been raised and educated in Belgium, Ancart developed a practice rooted in the history of American painting and abstraction, showing the influence of such artists as Richard Diebenkorn, Helen Frankenthaler, Brice Marden, and Wayne Thiebaud. Focusing on recognisable subjects, he isolates moments of poetry in everyday surroundings.

In 2019-2020, the Public Art Fund presented Harold Ancart: Subliminal Standard at the Cadman Plaza Park, Brooklyn. Ancart’s work was also featured in a solo exhibition, Harold Ancart: Untitled (there is no there there), at The Menil Collection, Houston, in 2016. The artist has participated in solo and group exhibitions around the world, including at the Stedelijk Museum voor Actuele Kunst (S.M.A.K.), Ghent (2019); Centre Pompidou-Metz, France (2018); Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris (2017); Palais de Tokyo, Paris (2013); and WIELS Centre d’art Contemporain, Brussels (2012).

Works by the artist are included in the permanent collections of numerous institutions worldwide, including the Fondation Beyeler, Basel; Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris; Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, DC; Lenbachhaus, Munich; Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Denmark; The Menil Collection, Houston; Musée d’Art Moderne, Paris; The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles; Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, Whitney Museum of American Art, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; and the Voorlinden Museum, Wassenaar.