He was born on February 4, 1872, in Botosani. He studied, between 1887-1893, at the School of Fine Arts in Iași with Panaiteanu Bardasare and C.D.Stahi. Between 1894-1898 he studied in Munich with Raub and Gysis.

He had his first personal exhibition in Iași, in the halls of the National Theater, in 1900. He was appointed professor at the Normal School (1901). He has personal exhibitions at the Athenaeum (1914 and 1915), Franklin Hall (1918 and 1919), Art (1921), Ileana (1925), Iasi (1927 and 1930), Dalles (1935 and 1937).

In 1916 he was appointed substitute teacher at the School of Fine Arts in Iasi. He exhibited at the Maison d’Art (1922-1923), the Vilagrosse Passage (1923), the Salon of Moldova (1942), Bucharest (1943).

The bench can be called the painter of the working class, due to the themes detached from the life of this social category. His painting is temperamental, sharp, a little primitive in sensations, expressionist in a plastic way.

Octav Băncilă enjoyed great popularity. He died on April 3, 1944, in Bucharest.