Frans Hals, along with Peter Paul Rubens and Anthonis van Dyck, is one of the most important portrait painters of his time.
He was a wise observer of his fellow men and a sharp character draughtsman, whose paintings still captivate today by their liveliness.
His sketchy paintings, executed with the boldest brushstrokes, made him one of the most important impulses of Impressionism painters.
The “happy drinker” is one of his most famous works. A popular and widespread subject of his time, nobody has captured it as completely on canvas as F. Hals.
The whole painting seems to be born from the moment and almost to speak in its liveliness. The flashing eyes, the half-opened mouth, the slightly raised hand – all this shows a cheerful Zecher looking at us with reddened cheeks and whose lips seem to be forming a toast.