Room 89
Frans Hals
1582–1666, Netherlands (Haarlem), Dutch Golden Age (Baroque)
Frans Hals spent almost his whole life in Haarlem, painting merchants, civic guardsmen and craftsmen. No one before him handled the brush so freely: with quick, visible strokes he captured a glance, a smile or a movement as if the moment had only just passed. Two centuries later his manner of painting inspired the Impressionists.