Youth Wolter grew up in the inner city of Amsterdam, where his father (civil engineer by profession) operated one of the first Dutch companies installing heating systems in buildings and houses.

Like so many adolescents from well-to-do families of his day, Henk Wolter became fascinated by sports and became a fairly successful cyclist, winning various races between 1890 and 1894.

His works in the early years of his career were strongly influenced by the classicist style that was taught at the Antwerp Academy at the time.

He painted in a naturalistic style using colours with dark overtones (brown, grey, green) reminiscent of the Hague School of Dutch painters from the second half of the 19th century.

In 1904 Wolter married Koosje van Hoorn, daughter of a vicar from Winschoten in the north of Holland, and they moved to Laren, which at the time had a lively painter community.

[4] After visits to Devon (1910) and Cornwall (1911–1913) in England Wolter, fascinated by the play of light on water, developed a divisionist, impressionistic style with vibrant colors.

During these years Wolter also experimented with a pointillist, luministic style, inspired by the paintings of Emile Claus and Theo van Rysselberghe that he had become acquainted with during his studies in Antwerp.

From 1929 he painted in Brittany (the fishing ports of Douarnenez and Tréboul, which he had already visited in 1920), in the impressionist 'home town' of Honfleur and later in the South of France (inter alia Antibes, Nice, Villefranche-sur-mer, Menton, Sanary-sur-mer, Espalion, Albi, Saint-Paul-de-Vence).In 1938 he retired from his professorship and associated roles.

During this trip Wolter discovered the picturesque fishing port of Camogli, south of Genoa, where he produced numerous oil sketches of both the inner and the outer harbour.

World War II and final years In 1939, Wolter and Koosje returned to Italy, planning to stay for a longer period of time.

As a member of the artist associations Club De Tien,[9] St Lucas,[10] Arti et Amicitiae,[11] Pulchri Studio[12] and Hollandsche Kunstenaarskring[13] Wolter participated in many of the annual exhibitions they organised.

[14] Wolter's work was included in the 1939 exhibition and sale Onze Kunst van Heden (Our Art of Today) at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam.