Frans Hals Museum

Frans Hals worked in Haarlem all his life and painted the militia companies of the town in a series of large group portraits between 1616 and 1639 - the schutterstukken - in which he broke the convention of rows of faces and gave the sitters movement, turning bodies, crossed glances and interrupted gestures, so the pictures read as a moment rather than a record. Five of the six he painted are here, hung together with militia pieces by other Haarlem masters - the sixth, The Meagre Company, hangs in the Rijksmuseum - and this is the only place Hals's schutterstukken can be seen as a group. The museum occupies the Oudemannenhuis, an almshouse of 1609 built round a courtyard, where Hals himself lived at the end of his life on municipal support after his finances failed. The collection also holds Haarlem still life, landscape and genre painting, and a doll's house. A second site in the town centre shows modern and contemporary work.

What you actually see

• Five of Hals's six civic guard pieces - the largest group of his militia paintings anywhere.
• Movement in a group portrait - the convention he broke, visible across the series.
• An almshouse of 1609 - the building Hals lived in at the end, round a courtyard.
• Haarlem painting generally - still life, landscape and genre alongside.

When to go

All year. Half a day.

Honest expectations

Closed Mondays. The modern collection is at a second site with a separate ticket. Works travel to exhibitions, so a specific picture may be away - check if you are coming for one.

Nearby

Teylers Museum and the Grote Kerk are a short walk.