She displayed an early talent for drawing and began her studies in 1874 at the Royal Academy of Art, The Hague,[1] where she was a pupil of Jan Philip Koelman.

Her works of simple people in farm interiors and rough scenes of farm life are reminiscent of Van Gogh's early The Potato Eaters and it is said they admired each other's work.

[3] While in Rotterdam Suze Robertson caused something of a scandal because she insisted her pupils should be able to draw from the naked model.

[1] She married the painter Richard Bisschop in 1892, and became a member of the Pulchri studio and Arti et Amicitiae.

[2] Over the next few years, she exhibited widely and won several medals, including a bronze at the Exposition Universelle (1900).