FRANS HALS MUSEUM
I had heard there was an exhibit of almost all the Vermeer paintings in Amsterdam while we were here and planned to go. But apparently it was sold out within two hours of the tickets being released. So Vermeer is out. But then we discovered the Franz Hals Museum, paintings of the same period and because he lived in Haarlem, of the city we have been walking around in, right around the corner.
It is a marvelous museum with many of the paintings being of the people and architecture of Haarlem. It was not crowded and was very well set up with a great multiple slide show of Frans Hal’s life and the subjects of his paintings in a number languages to begin the tour. I photographed every painting and object in the museum and will now be able to look at the exhibits again and again on a wide screen at home in Swannanoa. At 85 I prefer to look through a museum while sitting at home drinking a cup of coffee and now I will be able to. The center of Haarlem around the cathedral is well represented. Since the paintings were so realistic and accurate it is possible to get the feeling of what life in Haarlem must once have been. I will look at Vermeer from the catalog. Frans Hals was able to catch the spirit of a person in his portraits.
Portrait of Nicolaes Woutersz van der Meer, 1631, Frans Hals
BILLYBABA’S WANDERING 