Ernst Agerbeek was born in Indonesia.
He lived in Indonesia but, he also studied in Brussels.

In Indonesia, he was member of the 'artists association' Vereeniging van Beeldende Kunstenaars at Jakarta. At the end of World War II the Japanese killed him because he had been a member of the resistance.

The works of Agerbeek is quite rare.
In the Elsevier magazine (edition of 7-1930, ‘Indië in de schilder- en teekenkunst’) is said that his infuences come from artists like Jan Toorop, who was the most important Dutch artist around 1900. Breughel, a Flemish old master. And Jacovleff ,a Russian artist.

He died in 1945 in Indonesia.