His father worked as a claims examiner for a life insurance company.

[1] From 1883 to 1888, he attended the Quellinusschool and the Rijksakademie in Amsterdam, where he studied painting with August Allebé and lithography with Rudolf Stang.

[2] After graduating, he lived in Bussum for several years then taught at the School of applied arts in Haarlem from 1896 to 1906.

He initially painted genre scenes, military personnel and interiors with figures.

Maarten's youngest son, Mirko [nl], is also a painter; his middle son, Jeroen, is an actor and director; and his eldest is the writer Tim Krabbé.