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Rob Graafland was born in Maastricht, where his father was a banker. When he was 15 years old, the family moved to Amsterdam. There Graafland attended the Quellinus School for Applied Arts and the Rijksnormaalschool voor Teekenonderwijs. 1895 he enrolled at the Rijksakademie in Amsterdam, where he was taught by August Allebé and Carel Dake. After completing his studies, he left in 1898 for Maastricht, which at that time was still a 'cultural wasteland'. He became a teacher at the Stadsteekeninstituut and in 1901 he also founded the Sunday School for Decorative Arts. Here, the most talented students of the Stadsteekeninstituut followed an extra training. Among them were Jean Grégoire, Han Jelinger, Henri Jonas and Joep Nicolas. In the winter they painted in the Augustinian Church, in the summer 'en plein air' in nature. In 1910 Graafland is one of the initiators of the establishment of the 'Limburgse 'Kunstkring', which aimed to promote the artistic climate in the Limburg regio and which is still active to this day.
In 1911 Graafland moved with his wife, son and daughter to the village of Sint Pieter near Maastricht. There they lived in a large house with a park-like, Italian garden where Maastricht artists were taught, worked and met. Under the influence of the colourful work of the luminists Jan Sluijters and Leo Gestel, the academy style in which Graafland was trained at the Rijksacademie changed. He developed into a romantic impressionist and in his paintings, which testify to the beauty of life, warm, vibrant colours predominate.
As a result of a deep depression – Graafland lost the family fortune at the end of the First World War – he stopped painting at the age of 43. He destroyed much of his early work, tormented by mental breakdowns in the 1930s. It was not until 1943 that he picked up the brush again. In the meantime, he teaches at the R.K. Huishoudschool, is a substitute member of the Maastricht Beauty Commission and works as an illustrator of children's books and magazines. After a failed suicide attempt in 1933, he is admitted to a psychiatric hospital in Vught where, miraculously, he recovers within a short time and starts painting again. During this period, he mainly focuses on painting portraits, often of people from the upper classes. In addition, his favorite themes are young, dreamy women in beautiful garden landscapes, naked women and dancers. His production in the last years of his life is large. In 1936, Graafland moves to The Hague, but turns his back on the city after a year for the peace of Vught. As a result of a malignant disease, he dies in a hospital in Heerlen.
