Maria Vos painted highly imaginative still lifes, often with fruit, vegetables and fish. Regarding light and composition the works often suggest 17th century, Dutch ostentations still lifes. She was gifted in the way she conveyed various materials, like shining copper, glistening onions or the silver skin of a fish. In 1854 she settled with the still life painter Adriana Haanen, in the village of Oosterbeek, where they made many sketches, drawings and watercolours of the Veluwe landscape. For this reason she is counted among the artists of the Oosterbeek School. She also undertook study trips along the Rhine and to Paris and Belgium.