Eliran Bar on
I’m Eliran Bar On, a contemporary Israeli painter. I create layered oil portraits that explore the complexities of identity, emotion, and post-trauma. Painting is my quiet space — a moment when the noise fades and the truth rises. Every canvas is a reflection of my inner world: joyful and broken, silent and screaming.
When I was a child, I loved to draw — but I forgot. Twenty years later, my mother found an old sketchbook. That memory opened a door. I began again, with charcoal, then pencil, then acrylic… and then I found oil. The life in the paint captivated me. That’s where I stayed.
Post-trauma is not my subject — it’s my language. It guides my hand. I paint in layers because that’s how I see people. That’s how I see myself. I am not one person — I am two. The functional me, and the shadow of trauma that walks beside me. Sometimes my best friend. Sometimes my greatest fear. But always with me.
Because the human face tells the whole story. I paint faces in layers — visually and metaphorically. We all carry layers: public and private, strength and vulnerability. My technique reflects that duality.
Each portrait I create is an emotional excavation. I strip down what’s expected, and I paint what’s real.
Feel
When you look at one of my paintings, I want you to feel something — joy, pain, even discomfort. Feeling is what matters. I want you to see the complexity within me, and within every human face I paint. I want my portraits to make you stop and breathe.
If this is your first time here, I want you to leave with more than a visual impression. I want you to feel like you know me. Like you’ve met my post-trauma through art. My hope is that something in my paintings speaks to a part of you that has no words.
To view the full painting gallery, click here
Layer by layer, color by color — I build faces like topographies of the soul.
This is more than portraiture. This is self-exploration. The visible and the invisible.
Mediterranean Rural Solitude: Ochre Farmhouse with Willow Tree and Lavender Fields
Contemplative Ballerina: Dramatic Portrait of Dancer in White Tutu Against Black Background
Atlas Burden: Grayscale Classical Figures on Pink Background with Poetic Quote
Rebirth of Vision – Surreal Floral Portrait with Butterfly and Human Expression
Golden Pointe – Dramatic Ballerina Oil Painting in Black, White, and Gold
I live with post-trauma. It’s not something I hide. It’s a presence that follows me — sometimes a comfort, sometimes a monster, always a companion.
This trauma doesn’t just influence my art. It is my art.
It chooses the themes. It decides the layers.
I often paint myself as two figures — the functioning me, and the version shaped by trauma. Both real. Both watching. Both permanent.
Through painting, I don’t escape my trauma. I sit with it. I speak to it. Sometimes I paint it directly.
This website is more than a gallery. It’s a window into my world, my mind, and my journey through post-trauma and healing.
If this is your first visit — welcome. I hope you leave feeling like you’ve met not just an artist, but a person. A story. A shared emotion.
“There are two versions of me in every painting. One speaks. One listens.”
Need help with artistic terms? Browse the glossary.
Curious about what inspires my work? Visit the Inspiration page.
