Van Gogh and Frans Hals

Vincent van Gogh admired Frans Hals. Vincent was impressed by his assured brushstrokes, his swiftly and loosely painted portraits. In a letter to his brother Theo he wrote : ‘paint in one go. As far as possible in one go. What a joy it is see a Frans Hals like that, how very different it is from the paintings where everything has been carefully smoothed out in the same way’.
The exhibition ‘Frans Hals and the moderns’ in The Frans Hals museum in Haarlem, shows Frans Hals’s immense impact on the modern painters. Until February 24 we can see this masterpiece by Vincent, the postman Joseph Roulin. One of the very few friends he had during his stay in Arles.