At an auction in New York, the Frans Hals Museum and the Mauritshuis have jointly acquired two paintings by Frans Hals. Violin-playing Boy and Singing Girl were bought at Sotheby's with support from the Rembrandt Association, the Mondriaan Fund, the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science's National Acquisition Fund, the Friends of the Frans Hals Museum Association, the Friends Lottery and the Municipality of Haarlem. The paintings are a unique acquisition for the Netherlands, as they possibly show Hals' own children and are a vista of the Netherlands in the 17th century. The works will stay together and will be shown alternately in Haarlem and The Hague.
The two panels, painted in about 1628, are an important addition to the Netherlands' public art collection and the collections of both museums. Frans Hals is internationally known for his portraits and genre pieces: depictions of ordinary people in their everyday activities, which you might still encounter on the street today. Precisely these kinds of genre pieces by Hals were hardly to be found in the Netherlands Collection until now. The acquired portraits of two children making music are extra special because the boy and girl are possibly his own son and daughter.
Eppo Bruins, Minister of Education, Culture and Science (OCW): 'It is wonderful that these paintings by Frans Hals, first owned by a foreign private individual, are back home. They offer a glimpse into everyday life in the 17th century and are a wonderful example of Hals' characteristic loose painterly touch. Nice that two museums are joining forces with the support of the government and private donors, so that this unique Dutch masterpiece will soon be available for all to admire.'
Hals' legacy
Frans Hals (1583-1666) is one of the most famous and innovative Dutch painters of the 17th century. His dynamic brushstrokes and spontaneous compositions made his work unique and widely imitated. His style caught on in his own time and earned him many commissions for portraits, such as of wealthy brewers and gunmen in Haarlem. In addition, he often portrayed ordinary people, a development that started in Haarlem and later spread throughout Holland. In later times, too, his work was of great influence on artists such as the Impressionists and Vincent van Gogh.
Missing puzzle piece for museums
The Frans Hals Museum has the largest collection of Hals paintings in the world, but had no genre paintings by his hand until now. With these two panels, this important part of Hals' oeuvre also gets a place in the museum. The paintings will be on display at the Frans Hals Museum from mid-July and will be part of the Hals-Rembrandt exhibition, which will take place there from November 2026.
As a museum of 17th-century masterpieces, the work of Frans Hals is relatively underrepresented within the Mauritshuis' collection. In mid-October, the paintings will be shown for the first time at the Mauritshuis in a presentation on the development of genre painting in that early 17th century. They will be flanked by works by painters such as Willem Buytewech and the Flemish Adriaen Brouwer who were working in Haarlem around the same time.
Purchased with support from
Violin-Playing Boy and Singing Girl by Frans Hals were acquired with support from the Rembrandt Association, the Mondriaan Fund, the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science's National Acquisition Fund, the Friends of the Frans Hals Museum Association, the Friends Lottery and the Municipality of Haarlem.
