Nicolaas Pieneman was educated at the Rijksakademie in Amsterdam and then was a student of M. Monnickendam. He specialized in painting landscapes and cityscapes, for which he found his subjects in and around Amsterdam. As a member of the painters' association 'De Independenten', his work was exhibited in the Stedelijk Museum in the 1920s, together with that of other innovative artists such as Piet Mondrian, Charley Toorop, Jan Wiegers and Johan Dijkstra.