Born in 1921, Popma studied at the Academy of Fine art and Technical Sciences in Rotterdam and at the State Academy in Amsterdam. He began his career with making stained-glass windows, reliefs in ceramics and cement, as well as bronze portraits of well-known Dutch figures. In 1987 he decided to concentrate on landscapes, and his oil paintings in this genre have something of the monumentality and simplicity of his previous work in other techniques. Because Popma's landscapes are fairly small (e.g. 34 x 40 cm) he is able to paint them while sitting in the front seat of his car, a great advantage in the wet Dutch climate.