Hannah Bureau American

Hannah Bureau’s artistic journey has been deeply influenced by her creative upbringing. Born in Paris and relocating to America at age eight, Bureau has been painting professionally for over two decades. Surrounded by the works of her mother and grandmother, as well as her father and grandfather—both architects—Bureau developed a profound appreciation for the visual arts. “My mother and grandmother’s work hung on every wall, alongside art by my father and grandfather,” she recalls. Frequent visits to museums and summers spent in her grandmother’s studio further enriched her artistic foundation. “These experiences were instrumental to my development as an artist and provided me with a strong grounding in art history,” Bureau explains.

Her education was further honed through studies with contemporary masters Jon Imber and Eric Aho. Working primarily in oils, Bureau embraces the medium’s versatility, achieving rich tones that shift between warm and cool. “I strive to maintain the immediacy of mark-making—to splatter, drip, and be spontaneous,” she says. “Oil painting feels both uncontrolled and liberating, much like my day-to-day life: a beautiful mess.”

While primarily a landscape painter, Bureau is less concerned with direct representation and more focused on distillation. “I love reproducing a subject from memory,” she shares. Starting en plein air, she meticulously observes light, color, and atmosphere. In the studio, however, her approach shifts toward emphasizing “the marks and information that feel essential,” ensuring her work isn’t “bogged down by strict adherence to realism.” This approach is evident in pieces like Beach Day, where the warm palette and abstracted forms convey the “washed-out” light and serene calm of the seashore. “The painting is tranquil, yet movement, rhythm, and patterning bring it to life,” she says. Large color blocks in the background contrast with bold, vigorous brushstrokes in the foreground, creating spatial tension and enhancing the work’s atmosphere.

Hannah Bureau studied her Master’s at Massachusetts College of Art, where she was recognized as an outstanding graduate student; and Bureau obtained her BFA from the Rhode Island School of Design. Her paintings have been exhibited at the Saatchi PULSE Art Fair and the Affordable Art Fair in New York City, as well as in numerous esteemed galleries. When she’s not in the studio, she enjoys raising her twin daughters, Isla and Elsi, and taking walks with her husband, Jeff, and their dog, Lucy.