Frans Hals exhibition in the Rijksmuseum took a lot of work to complete

Mounting a Frans Hals exhibition a Frans Hals exhibition of this size and with so many masterpieces in the Rijksmuseum, says head director Taco Dibbits. The Amsterdam Museum is dedicating a major exhibition to Hals (1582/1584-1666) for the first time, with 48 paintings from his art career containing more than two hundred works. "You can't do this often. The works are not always loaned out."

The exhibition can be seen from Friday the 16th and features works that have rarely left other museums. Such as De Lachende cavalier from the British Museum the Wallace Collection. "That was actually not allowed to travel under the donor's will." The Frans Hals Museum in Haarlem has also loaned several pieces, including the Feestmaal van de officieren from the Sint-Jorisschutterij, which has never left Haarlem, and Lachende Jongen has been brought over from the Mauritshuis in The Hague.

The Rijksmuseum and the Frans Hals Museum agreed that the Haarlem master "deserves the national podium," said Dibbits. Hals was more famous than Vermeer in the nineteenth century and inspired many other famous painters. "You want to give him that podium again." The Rijksmuseum has given Vermeer the attention in the last few years. This year, it will be given to Hals.

Hals's paintings were groundbreaking, according to curator Friso Lammertse." Everyone painted neatly and precisely in the seventeenth century, but he counters that with a highly loose touch." With this technique, Hals was able to bring his paintings to life. "People move, but paintings can't. He tried to find a solution for that using that touch." The artist also managed to paint a convincing smile, something that many painters had difficulty with.

Hals is back on the international podium for the first time in over 30 years. This exhibition was created in collaboration with the Frans Hals Museum, the Gemäldegalerie, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, and the National Gallery in London. A similar Frans Hals exhibition can be seen in Berlin from July, and in London, it can be seen until the end of January.

Visitors will get "a smile on their face" due to the exhibition, according to Dibbits. With Vermeer, "You stepped into a world of the seventeenth century." But Hals "Paints people that you could see today. With this, it comes to you."