Nico Bruynesteyn attended the Quellinus Kunstnijverheidsschool in Amsterdam, where he became good friends with the painter Evert Jan Ligtelijn. In 1917 he moved to The Hague, probably attended the academy there and married the painter Sofia van Driel in 1927, who worked under the pseudonym 'Tilly Moes'. A period of many different places of residence followed, including Blaricum and Zeist. Bruynesteyn often signed his landscapes and cityscapes in that period with the pseudonym 'Pieter van Noort'.