“How extensive the Hals-mania was exactly, is brilliantly on display in Frans Hals and the Moderns.” NRC (thursday 18 oct) ****

“The more than 80 paintings, of which 50 are on loan, proof the influence of Hals on the artistic turnaround in the 19th centrury. The museum tells this story in a convincing way. “Trouw (monday 22 oct) ****

Frans Hals was rediscovered as a modern idol two hundred years after his death. He was admired, even adored by late 19th-century artists such as Édouard Manet, Max Liebermann and Vincent van Gogh. They were all impressed by his loose touch and rough painting style, which came across as ‘Impressionist’.

This exhibition shows Frans Hals’s immense impact on these modern painters. For the first time, paintings by the famous 17th-century portrait painter are being shown alongside reactions to his work from other major eras of painting.

Seeing works by Frans Hals alongside virtuoso work by the artists whom he inspired gives insight into how modern Frans Hals was in in their eyes: ‘Frans Hals, c’est un moderne’.

Frans Hals and the Moderns is accompanied by an amazing glossy, full of exciting background stories of the works in the exhibition. The illustrations by Aart Taminiau (illustrator/animator, 1982) show the visitor the story of the Moderns in Haarlem, and at the same time his work is on view in a mini-expo in Hal. Moreover, in Hal, the international group exhibition Noise! Frans Hals, Otherwise takes place.

The exhibition has been supported by Beminnaers, BankGiro Loterij, Van Toorn Scholten Stichting, Turing Foundation, VSBfonds, Fonds 21, Mondriaan Fund, Friends of the Frans Hals Museum, the municipality of Haarlem, Blockbusterfund and by the Dutch government. An indemnity grant has been provided by the Cultural Heritage Agency of the Netherlands on behalf of the Minister of Education, Culture and Science.

Buy your ticket for the exhibition here (also valid for Noise! in Hal).