Wilhelm Bleckmann was born in 1853 in the Dutch East Indies. In 1860, his family moved to the Netherlands, where Bleckmann studied Dutch East Indies law from 1869 to 1871. He initially worked as a civil servant in the Dutch East Indies, but after 1878, after studying at the Rijksacademie van Beeldende Kunsten in Amsterdam, he made a name for himself as an artist. From 1881 to 1889, he was an art teacher at the Koning Willem III Gymnasium in Batavia (Jakarta). After retiring in 1899 and returning to the Netherlands, he devoted himself entirely to painting. He died in 1942 in The Hague. Bleckmann's oeuvre consists of East Indies scenes, Dutch village scenes, river views, bulb fields, still lifes, and portraits. He was a painter, illustrator, and draftsman. Bleckmann's painting in the De Witte Zwaan* Collection beautifully depicts the landscape of the Bulb Region, with the contrast between the dunes and their thickets and the colorful bulb fields.

*This work was purchased as a work by Elisabeth Roelofs-Bleckmann, but it was most likely not made by her but by her father Wilhelm Bleckmann, who painted many bulb fields in the Bollenstreek.