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, whose regents and regentesses Hals painted in 1664, the year the town granted him an annuity 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.

History

The museum, founded in 1862, occupies the Oudemannenhuis, an almshouse for old men founded in 1609, whose thirty little houses around a courtyard each housed two men, who had to be at least 60 years old and honest residents of Haarlem (Wikipedia, Frans Hals Museum).

Highlights

• 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 house whose regents Hals painted in 1664, round a courtyard.
• Haarlem painting generally - still life, landscape and genre alongside.

When to go

All year. Half a day.

Things to know

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.

Key facts