Ananta Mandal is a contemporary Indian painter whose work moves between Impressionism and Surrealism, drawing on moments, moods and visions that emerge from everyday life and the imagination. Working across watercolour, oil, acrylic and charcoal, he is best known for his urban landscapes, in which quick, energetic brushwork captures the movement and atmosphere of city life. His subjects range from the Mumbai skyline and sea link to the ghats of Varanasi, festive crowds, horses and bulls in motion, seascapes, desert light and the nostalgia of vintage steam trains.

Born in 1983, Ananta completed his Bachelor of Fine Arts at the Government College of Art and Craft, Kolkata, in 2007 and now lives and works in Mumbai. He regards drawing as the foundation of his practice and describes painting as an intuitive, almost meditative process, with each work beginning as a feeling that gradually finds its colour, light and form.

He has held eighteen solo exhibitions since his first at the Academy of Fine Arts, Kolkata, in 2004, including shows at Jehangir Art Gallery and Nehru Centre Art Gallery in Mumbai, Lalit Kala Akademi in New Delhi and World Art Dubai. His watercolours have been selected for international society exhibitions including the Royal Watercolour Society, London, and the San Diego Watercolor Society. He has received more than forty awards in India and abroad, among them the First Place Award from the Watercolor Art Society of Houston, the Winsor and Newton Excellence Award from the Northwest Watercolor Society and the Bombay Art Society's award for Best Landscape in Watercolour.

His paintings are held in private and corporate collections in India, the USA, the UK, Europe, the UAE, Australia, Singapore and New Zealand.