Ilan Baruch is a contemporary Israeli painter recognized in the local art scene for his landscapes, still lifes, and portraits. He was born in 1974 into a religious ultra-Orthodox family in the Geula neighborhood of Jerusalem. At the age of 14, he left yeshiva studies and enrolled at the art school of the Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz, where he studied under the painter Liliane Klapisch.

Baruch's paintings convey the historical, mythical, and political weight of the Israeli-Palestinian reality. His works explore the depiction of the land and landscapes of Israel—Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria—and local vegetation such as cypress trees and the prickly pear cactus, a cultural symbol of the Land of Israel. Within these landscapes, the artist incorporates figures such as the shepherd, the Arab, and the settler.

Baruch paints in oil, in a highly detailed, figurative realist style. The realism in his work confronts the viewer with reality as it is. While his pastoral scenes depict tranquil landscapes, they often carry an undercurrent of tension, conveyed through elements such as background smoke, a separation barrier, cacti as dividers, watchtowers, and Jewish symbols like a folded Israeli flag or a tallit (prayer shawl).

Baruch has held numerous solo and group exhibitions, and his works are included in the collections of the Tel Aviv Museum of Art, the Ashdod Museum of Art, the Janco Dada Museum, as well as private collections in Israel and abroad. In 2004, his exhibition Dialogue with the Sabra, curated by Aya Luria at the Helena Rubinstein Pavilion of the Tel Aviv Museum of Art, focused on figurative and expressive depictions of the sabra plant within the local climate.

In 2013, a comprehensive exhibition of his work titled Sometimes We Forget the Desert Was Not a Desert at All was shown at the Museum of Israeli Art in Ramat Gan, curated by Meir Aharonson. The exhibition featured around forty oil paintings based on direct observation and on-site presence. In 2021, he participated in the group exhibition Havruta at the Supreme Court Museum in Jerusalem, which explored the concept of "havruta" (study partnership) from the perspectives of both secular and ultra-Orthodox creators.

Ilan Baruch, the painter, was born in Jerusalem in 1974. His works are in museum collections including Tel Aviv, Monart, Ashdod, Janco Dada Museum, as well as private collections abroad. Baruch received a B.A.of Philosophy from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.