Last updated: 28 October 2026
Marcelle Hanselaar is the Dutch-born, London-based artist behind unsettling narrative paintings and etchings, with work in the British Museum and the Met. Here you will find our take on her work, where to see Marcelle Hanselaar now, how to buy her prints and paintings, and her two drawings in this year’s War Child auction.
Our take on Marcelle Hanselaar
Hanselaar makes figurative paintings and etchings about desire, violence and the stories people tell. Her recent series Rebel Women retells the women of the Old Testament and the Apocrypha, such as Lilith, Delilah and Salome. “They manipulate, they kill, and they make fools out of men, which to me is both funny and courageous,” she told Unit London.
Her War Child pieces are a pair in pencil, colour pencil, ink and paint. In There Is Always Hope I, a girl with a long plait bends forward and reaches up towards a yellow sun. Above her, a dark green cloud fires red darts down across the sky, and one of her legs is marked with red at the knee. In There Is Always Hope II, a child in a yellow cap walks on crutches beside a great green tree, with a red streak running down beside them and a yellow sun overhead. Both are drawn lightly on white, and both are signed MH.
These are tender drawings from an artist whose etchings can be very dark, and they suit a charity for children in war. She is also clear about what a picture has to do. “Paintings don’t move, not like film or television which focuses attention. The action has to happen inside you,” she said in the same interview. She also has work in the British Museum, the V&A and the Met, so these lots come with serious museum credentials.
Marcelle Hanselaar: the essentials
- Born in Rotterdam in 1945; has lived and worked in London since the early 1980s, according to her own site.
- Studied briefly at the Royal Academy of Art in The Hague (1962 to 1964), then travelled for years. She is self-taught as a painter and moved from abstraction to figuration.
- Took up etching after a printmaking course at Kensington and Chelsea College, finishing in 2001.
- The Metropolitan Museum of Art acquired her print series Rebel Women from the Apocrypha, and her work is also in the British Museum, the V&A, the Ashmolean, the Fitzwilliam, the Whitworth and Pallant House Gallery.
- Prizes include the Clifford Chance Purchase Award at the International Print Biennial (2014) and a Jury Award at the Novosibirsk Print Triennial (2021). She was shortlisted for the Prix de Gravure Mario Avati in 2023.
- Two of her self-portraits hung in Painting Time: Art and Ageing at Dulwich Picture Gallery in 2026.
Where to see Marcelle Hanselaar now
- Now, until 28 November: The Same Boat: Conflict and Compassion in Prints by Marcelle Hanselaar (solo), Oriel 1: Gallery Gwyn, Aberaeron, Wales, 10 October to 28 November 2026, listed on her site.
- Coming up: Sound & Vision 2026, a War Child charity auction online from 27 October to 12 November 2026, with the works on view at Iconic Images Gallery, London, 6 to 8 November. The pieces are There Is Always Hope I (2026), pencil, colour pencil, ink and paint, 15 x 21 cm (5.9 x 8.3 in), lot page, and There Is Always Hope II (2026), pencil, colour pencil, ink and paint, 15 x 21 cm (5.9 x 8.3 in), lot page.
- Coming up: SPACE (group), curated by Alice Herrick, Liminal Gallery, Margate, 6 to 28 November 2026, listed on her site.
- Rebel Women (solo, online), Unit London, 2026.
- Painting Time: Art and Ageing (group), Dulwich Picture Gallery, London, 20 January to 10 May 2026.
How to buy a Marcelle Hanselaar print or painting
Her etchings are sold in editions through galleries and print fairs. These are the main ways to buy:
- There Is Always Hope I and II, 2026: two small works on paper in the War Child Sound & Vision auction, bidding from £100 until 12 November 2026 (bid on I here and II here).
- Etchings: her print series, from La Petite Mort to Rebel Women from the Apocrypha, are shown on her own site, and Julian Page Projects shows her prints at the London Original Print Fair. Ask the gallery for prices.
- Paintings: the Rebel Women paintings were offered online by Unit London in 2026, price on request.
Marcelle Hanselaar FAQs
Is Marcelle Hanselaar’s work in museum collections?
Yes. The British Museum, the V&A, the Ashmolean, the Fitzwilliam, the Whitworth and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York all hold her work.
Is Marcelle Hanselaar a painter or a printmaker?
Both. She paints in oil and has made etchings since 2001. Her recent works also use oil and pencil on board.
Where can I see Marcelle Hanselaar’s work now?
Her prints are on show at Oriel 1: Gallery Gwyn in Aberaeron until 28 November 2026. In London, her two War Child pieces are at Iconic Images Gallery from 6 to 8 November.
Can I buy a Marcelle Hanselaar print?
Yes, through Julian Page Projects, which shows her etchings at print fairs. Her two War Child works on paper start at £100.
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- Best affordable art in the UK: prints and originals under £500.
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Main image: Marcelle Hanselaar, Self Portrait as Dutch Woman, 2002. Courtesy the artist, via marcellehanselaar.com. Cropped and framed by CoolCuration. Exhibition dates, prices, auction results and market figures last checked: 28 October 2026.
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