Laughing faces and loose brushwork abound within these walls. Welcome to the Frans Hals Museum. This Haarlem museum is dedicated to fine arts. It holds the largest collection of Frans Hals paintings worldwide. You’ll also find works by other famous Haarlem artists. These include Judith Leyster, Cornelis van Haarlem, and Jacob van Ruisdael. The Frans Hals Museum also features an extensive collection of art from 1880 to the present day. Works by Isaac Israels, Charley Toorop, and Dana Lixenberg are displayed here.
The Frans Hals Museum is housed in two beautiful historical buildings. They are located in the old city center. Here, you can discover 16th- and 17th-century art, plus modern and contemporary pieces.
The museum first opened its doors in 1913. It was located in Groot Heiligland. Since then, it has enjoyed growing fame. The collection of Haarlem Old Masters from the Golden Age is unique. It reflects a revolutionary change in painting. This change ultimately determined the style and grandeur of the Golden Age. Haarlem can rightly be regarded as its birthplace.
The Frans Hals Museum is named after Frans Hals. Hals was an innovative artist. He had an exceptional eye for the humanity of his subjects. He was a master of loose brushwork. This technique gives his portraits movement and brings his subjects to life.
Frans Hals was born in Antwerp around 1583. His family moved to Haarlem when he was an infant. He trained as a painter there. In 1610, he became a member of the Haarlem Guild of Saint Luke. He then started his painting career. Hals remained in Haarlem his whole life. He married twice and had fourteen children.
Hals developed a unique painting style. You can clearly see the lively brush strokes on the canvas. This style was very popular. He received many orders to paint portraits of rich brewers and merchants. He also painted three impressive group portraits. These depicted regents and regentesses of care institutions in Haarlem. Nobody produced more civic guard portraits than Frans Hals. He created five monumental group portraits of civic guard militia from Haarlem.
Frans Hals painted people from all levels of society. This included stage actors and fishermen’s children. These subjects often had big smiles. Laughing with your mouth open was considered bad manners in Frans Hals’s day. That’s why rich people were usually portrayed with a straight face. However, children from impoverished backgrounds didn’t know better. They could be portrayed laughing out loud. Hals must have realized his signature brush strokes were perfect for these paintings. They were called tronies, meaning facial expressions. They were very popular at the time.
During the last years of his life, Hals received financial support from the city. This was in the form of a pension. It shows how important the painter was to Haarlem. Even then, he received commissions for large paintings. At 80 years old, he painted two group portraits. These depicted the regents and regentesses of the Old Men’s Alms House. These paintings are now housed in the Frans Hals Museum. Frans Hals died in 1666 at over 83 years old.
In the late 19th century, painters became fascinated with Hals’s loose brushwork. These included Manet, Monet, and Van Gogh. They came to Haarlem to admire his paintings. To this day, his loose brush strokes are an inspiration to visitors and artists alike. Vincent van Gogh was also an admirer of Frans Hals.
Today, the Frans Hals Museum continues to collect and exhibit art. It strives to bring together diverse people and artworks. The museum aims to provide inspiration. It seeks to be a place where art, artists, and the public can meet.