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Rie Bolderheij was born in Amsterdam as the fifth child of Dirk Bolderheij and Cornelia Maria Christina Dreuzing.[1] At the age of twenty, Bolderheij married historian and journalist Jan François Leopold de Balbian Verster, and received a studio on the Prinsengracht as a wedding gift. To further develop as a painter, she took lessons from painters such as Isaac Israëls and Willem Wenckebach. She also exhibited with the latter several times.

One of the most notable exhibitions in which De Balbian Verster-Bolderheij participated was an exhibition at the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam in 1915. She also submitted some of her paintings for the art competition of the 1928 Summer Olympics. Furthermore, she was a member of the Amsterdam artists' associations Arti et Amicitiae and the Sint-Lucasgilde.

She mainly focused on painting portraits and still lifes; for example, actress Sara Heyblom was among those she portrayed. The travels that De Balbian-Verster-Bolderheij later made in her career to Japan, Hong Kong, Morocco, Russia, and Jordan also served as an important source of inspiration.

De Balbian Verster-Bolderheij passed away in 1990 at the age of one hundred in Weesp. Today, her paintings sell for several thousands of euros. For example, in December 2009, a painting was auctioned for almost three thousand euros at Christie's Amsterdam.