Where can you see Frans Hals in Amsterdam?

At the Rijksmuseum: The Merry Drinker, Portrait of a Couple, probably Isaac Massa and Beatrix van der Laen and The Meagre Company. Museums move and lend their works, so check before a special journey.

What is Frans Hals's most famous work in Amsterdam?

The Merry Drinker, of about 1628 to 1630, at the Rijksmuseum. A man with a glass of wine raises his hand in greeting, painted in a few loose strokes, as if he had just turned to speak.

When and where was Frans Hals born?

About 1582, at Antwerp, Spanish Netherlands. Frans Hals died on 26 August 1666, at Haarlem, Dutch Republic, aged about 84.

What is Frans Hals known for?

Worked all his life in Haarlem, where a museum is named after him. His Laughing Cavalier is in the Wallace Collection in London. Van Gogh admired how many blacks he used. Frans Hals was a Dutch painter, of the Dutch Golden Age.

Painter, 1582 to 1666

Frans Hals

Frans Hals painted faces as if he had caught them in mid-sentence. His brush moved fast and left its marks, and the painters of the nineteenth century, from Manet to Van Gogh, came to Holland to study how he did it.

Born: 1582, Antwerp, Spanish Netherlands
Died: 1666, Haarlem, Dutch Republic
Movement: Dutch Golden Age
In Amsterdam: 3 works in 1 museum

Where to see Frans Hals in Amsterdam

Each work with the museum it hangs in. Museums move and lend their works, so check before a special journey.

Rijksmuseum3 works

The Merry Drinker
about 1628 to 1630
A man with a glass of wine raises his hand in greeting, painted in a few loose strokes, as if he had just turned to speak.
Portrait of a Couple, probably Isaac Massa and Beatrix van der Laen
about 1622
A newly married couple smiling side by side in a garden, a rare picture of happiness among the stiff portraits of the time.
The Meagre Company
1633 to 1637
The militia company of Captain Reynier Reael. Hals began it for the Amsterdam company, would not keep travelling from Haarlem to finish it, and Pieter Codde completed it.

The life of Frans Hals

Hals was born in Antwerp and brought to Haarlem as a child, when his family fled the war in the southern Netherlands. He spent his whole working life there, painting the city's burghers, their wives and their militia companies.

His group portraits of the militia and of the regents of the city's almshouses are the glory of the Frans Hals Museum in Haarlem. The Rijksmuseum has The Merry Drinker, a married couple in a garden and The Meagre Company, which he began and another painter finished.

What to know

Worked all his life in Haarlem, where a museum is named after him
His Laughing Cavalier is in the Wallace Collection in London
Van Gogh admired how many blacks he used

Born: About 1582, Antwerp, Spanish Netherlands
Died: 26 August 1666, Haarlem, Dutch Republic

Frans Hals: common questions

Where can you see Frans Hals in Amsterdam?: At the Rijksmuseum: The Merry Drinker, Portrait of a Couple, probably Isaac Massa and Beatrix van der Laen and The Meagre Company. Museums move and lend their works, so check before a special journey.
What is Frans Hals's most famous work in Amsterdam?: The Merry Drinker, of about 1628 to 1630, at the Rijksmuseum. A man with a glass of wine raises his hand in greeting, painted in a few loose strokes, as if he had just turned to speak.
When and where was Frans Hals born?: About 1582, at Antwerp, Spanish Netherlands. Frans Hals died on 26 August 1666, at Haarlem, Dutch Republic, aged about 84.
What is Frans Hals known for?: Worked all his life in Haarlem, where a museum is named after him. His Laughing Cavalier is in the Wallace Collection in London. Van Gogh admired how many blacks he used. Frans Hals was a Dutch painter, of the Dutch Golden Age.