Hendrik Willem Mesdag was born in Groningen on 23 February. His father was an art collector and an amateur painter, exposing Mesdag to art at an early age. Despite this, Mesdag did not dedicate himself to fulltime painting until 1866. Prior to this he worked in the family banking business; drawing and painting were merely hobbies.

Encouraged by his wife, Sientje Mesdag-van Houten (1834-1909), and thanks to a considerable inheritance from her father who passed away in 1864, Mesdag decided to become a painter. After his apprenticeship in Belgium he moved to The Hague. He was fascinated by the sea and the beach at Scheveningen became his favorite painting location.

In 1870, Mesdag contributed two paintings to the Paris Salon and won the gold medal despite being a complete outsider. This marked his breakthrough and thanks to the business instincts that he had developed at an early age he succeeded in establishing himself over the next few years. In 1880, he was commissioned to paint his famous panorama.

Mesdag was a well-respected man in the art world of The Hague. He was one of the founders (and later he became chairman) of the Dutch Drawing Society, Hollandsche Teekenmaatschappij, and he became a member of the art society Pulchri Studio after his move to The Hague, of which he was the chairman from 1889 to 1907 and later the honorary chairman. Around 1900, he initiated the move of Pulchri Studio to the Lange Voorhout. Together with his wife he financed part of the renovations.

Mesdag and Sientje had a house built on the Laan van Meerdervoort where they housed their collection of contemporary French and Dutch art. In 1903, Mesdag donated the house and the collection, currently known as the Mesdag Collection, to the Dutch State. Hendrik Willem Mesdag died on 10 July 1915, after a prolonged period of illness.