Hals – Rembrandt

Two grandmasters

Frans Hals (1582/83, Antwerp – 1666, Haarlem) and Rembrandt van Rijn (1606, Leiden – 1669, Amsterdam) are the two masters of 17th-century portraiture. Both are renowned for their loose brush strokes and ability to depict people as they truly were. They didn’t just paint rich regents, they also produced realistic portraits of children, actors and musicians. Their style is quite similar but also very different. Rembrandt was always experimenting and kept adding layers to reach the essence of his subjects. Frans Hals seemed to have a more confident and swift style of painting, resulting in paintings that seem to be snapshots of reality.

Extraordinary combinations

In this exhibition the Frans Hals Museum will present a selection of extraordinary combinations of works by the two most famous portrait painters of the 17th century, such as their group portraits of ‘syndics’ (government officials) and ‘regentesses’ (female institutional governors). Hals – Rembrandt will give visitors a unique opportunity to take a closer look at the paintings of Rembrandt and Frans Hals, and discover more.