Blommers was a painter of landscapes and delicate genre compositions, but was primarily a painter of people going about their day-to-day tasks. Born to a talented lithographer and intitally destined to follow in his father’s footsteps; he studied with Christoffel Bisschop (1828-1904) at the Academy of Fine Arts in The Hague and made the acquaintance of Willem Maris (1844-1910) and Theo Mesker (1853-1894), who encouraged him to abandon engraving in favour of painting. Despite his father’s reservations, he listened to their advice. In fact, his first paintings were sufficiently successful to persuade his father that he had real promise. He exhibited for the first time in 1869 and, as luck would have it, his canvas was displayed close to those of Jozef Israels, who also recognized Blommers’ potential and took him under his wing.

Blommers went on to exhibit in Amsterdam, The Hague, Paris and Antwerp, reaping a rich harvest of awards and distinctions in the process. As an artist he never sought official recognition and praise: in his study of 19th Century Dutch painting, Max Rooses describes him as being largely indifferent to awards and distinctions, preferring to live the quiet life of a family man who happened to be blessed with a considerable artistic talent.