From 1 July to 3 September, Frans Hals Museum offers extra information to accompany the permanent presentation. Read our alternative texts and explore new perspectives on the city’s art. Perspectives that examine the inequality and power imbalance inherent in colonialism as well as the heritage of slavery. On Sundays, trained museum guides are available to discuss the subject in interactive Gallery Talks.

July 1 marks the 150th anniversary of the abolition of slavery in Suriname and the Caribbean territories of the kingdom of the Netherlands. A formal end to slavery had been legislated ten years earlier, in 1863. Yet the impact of slavery on Dutch society has remained visible and palpable ever since in inequality and (unseen) discrimination.

Many of the works at the Frans Hals Museum date from the period after 1600, when the foundations of the Dutch colonial empire were being laid. Is the economic history, and the violence and slavery that accompanied it, visible in the museum? How do today’s artists respond?

Together with Keti Koti Haarlem and Ineke Mok and Dineke Stam, researchers and authors of the recently published volume on Haarlemmers en de slavernij (Haarlemmers and slavery), the Frans Hals Museum is taking a new look at the collection. The results of our collaboration will be incorporated into our permanent presentation and our museum programmes.

The Frans Hals Museum presents art that is part of the colonial history of the Netherlands and Haarlem. These works hold tangible memories of the painful past that we address in this project. From 1 July to 3 September, we have linked twelve artworks and objects connected to slavery and colonial history to texts that enable you to discover more about this history and its continuing impact on society.