Career
According to Houbraken he was the brother of the painter Frans Hals and was specialized in small paintings of "conversation pieces" or "merry companies" (Dutch: Gezelschapjes). The Haarlem writer Samuel Ampzing mentions both brothers in his Praise of Haarlem with a poem stating that both brothers were exceptional. Frans painting his portraits "awake", and Dirck painting his figures "purely".
According to the RKD he worked in Leiden in 1641 and 1648, and was an influence on the painters Nathaniel Bacon, Johann Hulsman, and Willem Cornelisz Duyster.
He was buried in the Waalse Kerk (Haarlem).