Ben Moonen briefly visited the academy in Rotterdam (1914-1915), stayed in Paris and then settled for a longer period in Oirschot in Brabant. That is why he is usually regarded as a Brabant painter. Moonen painted village scenes, figures, still lifes and landscapes with high skies, tumultuous and blazing in color. After 1949 he lived in Soest and Leiden. In his last years Moonen painted abstract.