Hals

American

[hahls] / hɑls /

noun

Frans 1581?–1666, Dutch portrait and genre painter.

Hals British

/ hɑls /

noun

Frans (frɑns). ? 1580–1666, Dutch portrait and genre painter: his works include The Laughing Cavalier (1624)

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

Besides Rembrandt, the 27 artists include Vermeer and Frans Hals; Jan Lievens, Rembrandt’s contemporary and friend; Gerard Dou, one of his students; as well as Gabriel Metsu and Jan Steen.

From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 24, 2026

The fluid brushstrokes made Hals a major influence of later artists like Vincent van Gogh and impressionists like Édouard Manet.

From Seattle Times • Feb. 13, 2024

Agnolo Bronzino in Florence, Frans Hals in Haarlem, Hyacinthe Rigaud in Paris — lots of great European portrait painters exploited the language of wardrobe, but none more eloquently than Goya.

From Los Angeles Times • Dec. 28, 2023

I wanted to be able to put Franz Kline and Frans Hals in the same painting, and Picasso gave me that freedom.

From New York Times • Apr. 6, 2023

Just before we were to reboard the bus, I wandered into the large drawing room dominated by a Hals and a Rubens.

From "Double Helix" by James D. Watson

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023