Hals-Rembrandt

Rembrandt, The Syndics of the Drapers' Guild , 1662, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam.

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.

This exhibition displays nineteen paintings by Hals and Rembrandt alongside one another. Each combination showcases a particular challenge: how to paint children, whether it is possible to depict music, how to bring life to a group portrait. Look with intent and see more. See Rembrandt and Hals through new eyes.

The exhibition was made possible thanks to an exceptionally generous loan of five paintings from the Rijksmuseum’s collection. Of particular note is the inclusion of Rembrandt’s The Syndics (1662), which bears clear similarities to Hals’s Regents series.