Tholen pursued a conventional artistic education, beginning his studies at age sixteen in Amsterdam and then Delft. He later became a drawing instructor in Gouda and his career progressed steadily but not stunningly. That changed when he moved for three months to Brussels, where he received training in painting for the first time from Paul Gabriel. They worked together en plein air near Kampen, Tholen’s hometown. This proved to be a pivotal experience. Tholen learned to paint impulsively, without the blueprint of the carefully-conceived preparatory drawing, and responded with color to his immediate environment—an altogether different approach to art than he had learned in the academies. A few years later, Tholen visited the country home of the artist Willem Witsen, and made the acquaintance of George Hendrik Breitner and Anton Mauve. From this point onward he was more closely involved with The Hague School, becoming a member of Pulchri Studio and concentrating in his work on landscapes, dunes, country life and other rural themes that attracted Hague School artists. Unlike them, however, Tholen never eradicated city life from his works; he frequently included the bustling city as a backdrop or foil, and his landscapes rarely have the overwhelming sense of melancholy that we associate with Jacob Maris, for example.

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