Frans Hals Museum: Director's Choice

Celebrates the coming together in early 2018 of two of Haarlem's premier galleries, the Frans Hals Museum and De Hallen Haarlem. The Frans Hals Museum has attracted interest since it opened in 1913. Its collection of Haarlem Old Masters of the Golden Age, including the world's largest collection of paintings by Frans Hals, is unique. The collection reflects the radical changes that painting underwent in the early seventeenth century, with Haarlem providing fertile soil for a new expression of art to flourish. In the same way De Hallen Haarlem provides a platform for innovations in modern and contemporary art, positioning itself unequivocally as the champion of a living culture. In early 2018 the Frans Hals Museum and De Hallen Haarlem, which already operate as a single organisation behind the scenes, will become one museum under the name Frans Hals Museum. Each location will offer a new and distinctive programme of exhibitions in which traditional and contemporary art are shown side by side. The latest title in Scala's Director's Choice series celebrates the coming together of these two art institutions, with a selection of works which speak personally to the Director and reflect the synergy between the two collections.

Ann Demeester is Director of the Frans Hals Museum | De Hallen Haarlem. From 2006-2014 she was Director of de Appel Arts Centre Amsterdam, Head of de Appel Curatorial Programme, Amsterdam and the co-founder of the Gallerist Programme with the Fair Gallery. In 2009 she co-curated the 10th Baltic Triennial in Vilnius. As an art critic and journalist, she has written articles for several Belgian newspapers. She also hosts various art TV programmes on Dutch National Television.