Gerardus Hordijk was born in 1899 in the Hague, the Netherlands. He was a graphic artist, illustrator, and painter. Hordijk studied engineering in Delft, but kept following classes at the Academy of Fine Arts in the Hague. He graduated from both establishments.

In 1927 Hordijk moved to Paris and came to live in the same studio complex as Piet Mondriaan. Here he mainly produced oils, gouaches and watercolour paintings inspired by the ballet. But he also developed a personal working style incorporating a lot of ocre, whereas his later work exhumes a more simple serenity. Hordijk also liked to paint figurative classic subjects such as bathers at the Cote d’Azur, cityscapes and flower still lives.

In 1930 Hordijk married his American wife Margaret Mathews. The couple lived in Amsterdam for a while, before moving to New York in 1940 and changing their last name to Hordyk for marketing purposes. Just like Hordijk, Mondriaan, also moved to New York in 1940. The two met regularly and wrote letters to each other.

In 2006, the art dealer Marcel Gieling discovered the almost complete legacy of Hordijk in an empty villa; it contained hundreds of paintings and watercolours, next to letters of Mondriaan.

After Hordyk moved to Amsterdam once again, his popularity only grew. On October 15th, 1958, Hordyk passed away in Amsterdam.