• born in 1936 in Szeged, Hungary
• immigrated to Israel in 1957; to Montréal, Québec in 1973
• B.A., Hebrew University of Jerusalem (1964); M.A., Concordia University (1977); Ph.D. in Education and Art, Columbia Pacific University, San Rafael, California (1986)

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Paul Hartal's painting consists of bright, expressionistic canvases, often combined with photography or other technological processes, as part of the attempt to unite the scientific with the creative, or intuitive. His 1975 manifesto on Lyrical Conceptualism put forward a theory of art that emphasized the creative process as an interaction of emotion and intellect, fusing them and thus denying the traditional belief that they are at odds with one another. He writes: "Lyrical Conceptualism does not impose any formal limitations on the artist’s freedom. It merely suggests. Instead of competition it advocates cooperation. In our post-industrial society, science and technology determine our lifestyle. Consequently, art must concern itself with science and technology. However, science and technology should not be our masters but our servants" (1975). Hartal refuses to polarize science and art, but involves the use of technology by the artist in the creation of beauty, resulting in works that seek to unify science and art, emotion and logic, intelligence and soul. Hartal returned to Hungary in 1983, and his art and writings have been frequently discussed by the Hungarian media. In 1989 his book about Lyrical Conceptualism, The Brush and the Compass, was discussed in the Hungarian journal Újuidék (Pictorial Youth). In 1991, the book and his ideas again became the subject for an article, in the Hungarian paper Új Forrás (New Source). His 1989 Space Art series is an example of how Hartal has explored the place of science in human life, commenting on what he calls "our yearning to know the secrets of the universe, and our ultimate failure to apprehend the cosmos." A poet as well as a painter, Hartal is also the author of A History of Architecture (1972), Painted Melodies (1983), and The Kidnapping of the Painter Miro (1997), a novel that Hartal wrote and illustrated. He is honorary curator of the Israel Museum, and the founder-director (1987) of the Centre for Art, Science, and Technology in Montréal, Québec.

Centre Psycho-Social, University Lausanne, Montreux, Switzerland

Big Red Dot Gallery, Vancouver, British Columbia

Arte Electrografica
Palazzo Gambacorti, Pisa, Italy

Seoul International Fine Art Center, Seoul , Korea

Havana National Museum, Havana, Cuba

Alcorcon International Invitational
Centro Civico Social, Madrid, Spain

Municipal Library, St. Laurent, Montréal, Québec

Galleria Communale d'Arte Moderna, Bologna, Italy

Galerie Fokus, Montréal, Québec

Ward-Nasse Gallery, New York, New York

Society of Experimental Artists, Longboat Key Art Center, Florida

Archeology of the Future
Bergamo, Italy

Lo Straniero International Show
Oxford, England

Centro Culturale, Florence, Italy

University of Delaware, Delaware

Alcorcon Civic Centre, Madrid, Spain

Visions of Space
OURS, Montreux, Switzerland

La Rose des vents
Villeneuve d'Ascq., France

Contemporary Gallery Aono, Matsuyama City, Japan

Munson-Williams-Proctor Inst., New York, New York

Espace 31, Paris, France

Davidson Galleries, Seattle, Washington

Le Festival international des arts
Olympic Velodrome, Montréal, Québec

Belknap Memorial Invitational Print Exhibition
Columbia Greene Community College, Hudson, New York

Academie internationale de Lutece, Paris, France

Festival internationale de peinture et d'art graphico-plastique de Saint Germain-des-Prés
Paris, France

Artistes USA
Galeries Raymond Duncan, Paris, France

Ligoa Duncan Gallery, New York, New York

Encyclopedia of Living Artists. Renaissance, California: ArtNetwork Press, 1993.

Exler, Elizabeth. "Paul Hartal: A manifesto on Lyrical Conceptualism." Manhattan Arts (November/December 1992):14.

Hartal, Paul. "Antares." Leonardo 26, no.2 (1993):170.

---. The Brush and Compass: The Interface Dynamics of Art and Science. Lanham, Maryland: University Press of America, 1988.

---. Black and White. Montréal, Québec: Lyrical Conceptualist Society, 1984.

---. "Homage to a blue planet: Aeronautical and astronomical artworks." Leonardo 25, no. 2 (June/July 1992): 211-215.

---. "A manifesto on Lyrical Conceptualism." Art in America (November/December 1976): 153.

---. ["A manifesto on Lyrical Conceptualism."] Artnews (November 1977): 214.

---. A Manifesto on Lyrical Conceptualism. Montréal, Québec: Paul Hartal, 1975.

---. Painted Melodies. Montréal, Québec: Galerie-Studio J. Yahouda Meir, 1983.

---. "Perceptual ambiguity and metaphoric conceptualization." Contemporary Philosophy (July/August 1990): n.p.

---. Poetry Canada 10, no. 4 (Winter 1989-90): cover.

---. Rain Drop. New York, New York: Ward-Nasse Gallery, 1994.

---. "Space in vision, vision in space." Ylem (September 1991): 3.

---. Vernissage. Montréal, Québec: Lyrical Conceptualist Society, 1979.

---. Visions: Moment in Frame. Owings Mills, Maryland: National Library of Poetry, 1998 (Companion to the audio cassette put out by the National Library of Poetry, 1996).

---. "Visions of the cosmos: Space art." Orbiter Magazine (January/ February 1995):18.

Canadian Who's Who XXXII. Toronto, Ontario: University of Toronto Press, 1997.

"The Lyrical Conceptualism of Paul Hartal: The Brush and the Compass." Pictorial Youth (6 September 1989): 18.

Pickover, Clifford A. Chaos in Wonderland. New York, New York: St. Martins Press, 1994.

---. Mazes for the Mind. New York, New York: St. Martins Press, 1992.

Szathmary, Kara. "Cosmic Symbiosis." Artists/USA (1979-80): 151.

Szombathy, Bálint. "Melody and scene." Life and Literature (Élet és Irodalom) (23 June 1990): n.p.

Who's Who in American Art. 21st edition. New York, New York: Bowker, 1995-96.