Reinier Sybrand Bakels was born on Texel as the son of the Mennonite minister Pieter Simon Bakels and Fokeltje Breugeman.
He studied law at the University of Amsterdam and after obtaining his doctorate in 1899 he went to work for the municipality of Amsterdam.
Bakel was head of the commercial equipment department until he married Henriette van Wulfften Palthe (1878-1964), a member of the Palthe family, in 1903.
Her father was a wealthy textile industrialist and co-founder of the Palthe factory. Bakels began to focus on painting and began exhibiting after settling in The Hague in 1908.
He painted landscapes, cityscapes and harbor scenes, including in Scheveningen, Enkhuizen and on Texel, later he painted more portraits.

Bakels became a well-known figure in the art world of The Hague and was friends with, among others, W.B. Tholen.
He joined the Pulchri Studio and was secretary there for some time.
and became member and chairman (1932-1942) of the board of the Royal Academy of Art and a member of the advisory committee of the Haags Gemeentemuseum.
He also published on painting.

The painter died at the age of 82. He was the father of resistance fighter Floris Bakels.