Oerder received his training at theRotterdam Academy between 1880 and 1885. He then travelled to Italy on a scholarship and studied in Brussels. In 1890, he emigrated to South Africa, where he lived and worked in Cape Town and Pretoria.

In 1899, Oerder was officially appointed a war artist by Paul Kruger, and produced several paintings and sketches of the Second Boer War. Between 1908 and 1938, Oerder lived in the Netherlands again, working in Brabant and Amsterdam. In 1938, he returned to South Africa, where he died in 1944.

Oerder's work is varied in form and style. He produced paintings, etchings and other graphic work. Oerder became famous and loved for his flower still lifes, but he also painted war paintings, portraits, nudes, landscapes and peasant life.