Regents of the Old Men's Almshouse

Frans Hals's Regents of the Old Men's Almshouse from 1664 is one of the most extraordinary group portraits in Western art, painted when the artist was over eighty and himself a resident of the institution's charity rolls. The five regents are depicted with an almost frightening directness, their dark-clad figures arranged in a composition of austere power. The painting's raw, unflinching quality has been variously interpreted as evidence of Hals's failing powers, his bitter social commentary, or his supreme artistic mastery.

Hals's late technique reaches its most radical expression in the slashing, almost violent brushstrokes that define the regents' faces and collars. The restricted palette of blacks, whites, and flesh tones creates a stark severity that anticipates modern expressionism.