If Frans Hals lived now, he would most certainly be a world-famous photographer with thousands of followers on Instagram. But he lived and worked in the 17th century (1582-1666) and his ability to observe, to memorize and then to recreate a fleeting moment on canvas remains an object of endless wonder. Without a smartphone or a camera, he managed to capture this shortest fraction of a second when a smile and half squinted eyes say more than words and make you feel as if you know the portrayed individuals personally and that you are engaged in a casual conversation with them.
This spring the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, encouraged with last year’s huge success of Vermeer exhibition, presents the oeuvre of another great Dutch master – Frans Hals. The exhibition Frans Hals. Way Ahead of his Times is curated by Friso Lammertse, opened on 16th February, will last until 9th June 2024 and as I am writing this post over 175 thousand tickets have been sold.
Some 50 of his masterpieces are showcased and the exhibit came to be in collaboration with the National Gallery of London, Gemäldegalerie in Berlin and of course with Frans Hals Museum in Haarlem, Hals’ hometown. He was however born in Antwerp, a city his family fled when Hals was a toddler, to refuge from Spanish rule.
The exhibition is arranged not in chronological order but around different themes – portraits of married couples, individual portraits, group portraits of civic guards, laughter and smile, family and children’s portraits, miniature portraits. Some paintings, like The Merry Drinker (c.1629) were given their own space i.e. one painting in one room which creates an intimate ambiance and provides an opportunity to reflect on the masterpiece in peace ang quiet.
There is a selection of married couples’ portraits, often a set of two, one featuring the wife and the other the husband, like that of Lucas de Clerq and his wife Feyntje van Steenkiste. These sets are known as pendants and were very popular in the 17th century.
There are also portraits of couples sharing one canvas, like the one with, most likely, Issac Abrahamsz Massa and Beatrix van der Laen, more audacious, intimate, and free style than the hieratic, formal pendants.
Group portraits are grand and impressive, but I have completely melted with delight looking at the smiley portraitures, many of which Hals probably painted not for money but for his own fulfillment. It is hardly likely that someone would have commissioned an image of a fisherboy, a frivolously smiling young girl or a mentally disabled old woman. It is, however, in these portraits of people from all walks of life where his great talent, if not his genius, is most obvious.
The figures in Hals’ portraits overcome the distance from the viewer, so common in the works of other painters of the period. Hals’ characters are always playful, present, engaging, as if caught in a photographic shoot. They owe their dynamism and the impression of movement to the unique brushwork. Paint was applied in rapid strokes, leaving no room for precision and focus on detail. Hals’ contemporaries maliciously linked this technique to the painter’s fondness for liquor, resulting in his alleged inability to hold the brush in his hand. They were very wrong. Hals’ technique was a great innovation, evidence of his genius rather than weakness. If you look at The Merry Lute Player (bottom left picture in this article) you will clearly see he could paint details with precision (the lute), he just didn’t see the point.
When you look up closely this loose brushwork looks like an abstract composition. When you walk a few steps away you will see a completed portrait looking so much like a photographic shot that it is hard to resist the impression the person on canvas is about to step out and stand next to you.
Frans Hals is arguably not as well-known now as Rembrandt or Vermeer but 100 years ago it was Vermeer who was hardly known to the wider public. How things change! The exhibition at the Rijksmuseum might very well announce a shift and push Frans Hals to become as recognizable as the other Dutch masters. Worth mentioning here, it is the first monographic exhibition of Frans Hals in 30 years worldwide.
If you cannot visit the Rijksmuseum, a very good alternative is an excellent online guided tour, presented by Joanna Lumley, available on the museum’s website. https://www.rijksmuseum.nl/en/frans-hals
