Julie van der Veen was educated at the Royal Academy of Visual Arts in The Hague and took lessons at Sierk Schröder.
In addition, she took lessons in Paris with Marcel Gromaire and with Fernand Léger and visited the Académie de la Grande Chaumière.
At André Lhote she met the Argentine Nina Negri who suggested to follow lessons with Bill Hayter in his Atelier 17 in Paris.
After the Second World War she regularly stayed in Paris for a longer period of time and resumed painting at André Lhote.
Later in her life, Julie van der Veen lived under harsh circumstances in the Moerwijk district of The Hague and died in a nursing home in Scheveningen.