Arnold Marc Gorter (Ambt Almelo, December 3, 1866 - Amsterdam, September 16, 1933), was a Dutch painter and draftsman. At first Gorter followed in the footsteps of the Hague School, but later developed his own view.

Life and work: He had his studio in the city of Amsterdam, but was best known for his landscapes that he borrowed from nature in Drenthe, Twente and the Achterhoek, among others.

Gorter was born in 1866 in Ambt Almelo, between forest and farmland, as the son of soap maker Barend Gorter and Geertruida ten Cate Hoedemaker. His mother was a watercolorist and from an early age instilled a love for nature and art. He started drawing at a young age and wanted to become a painter.

The Twente landscape became his source of inspiration. But his father first had to learn 'a trade' and so he left for Amsterdam in 1884 to follow the training to become a drawing teacher at the Rijksnormaalschool voor Teekenonderwijsers. He was taught here by architect Pierre Cuypers, among others, who had set up this training with the aim of training teachers for Art-Craft Schools yet to be established. After obtaining his MO certificate in 1888, he took the painting classes under August Allebé at the Rijksakademie van visual arts. He did that from 1889 to 1891. Quite short, because he found the lessons from models and still life at the academy boring. He preferred to paint outside, but no lessons were given. During his studies Arnold Gorter always returned to Twente to work outside, sometimes to Drenthe and the Achterhoek. In addition, the area around Abcoude was a popular location. Here he often painted along the Gein together with younger friends such as Simon Maris, Piet Mondrian and Gorter's pupil Albert Hulshoff Pol.

After years of teaching at the new Art Craft Drawing School, from 1895 onwards he tried to make a living from the sale of his work. He became an active member of the Amsterdam artists' association Sint Lucas, of which he became chairman in 1899. During his presidency, ambitious exhibitions were held at the Stedelijk Museum and the number of members tripled. Although St. Lucas was primarily a youth association, renowned older artists such as Jan Toorop and Thérèse Schwartze now also joined.

Gorter was a member of the artists' associations Arti et Amicitiae, Pulchri Studio and Sint Lucas. The paintings that he exhibited at various associations in the 1890s immediately received support from both the public and the press. His large landscapes, painted with broad brushstrokes and sober colors, usually of autumn or winter, did not give a cheerful view of the East Netherlands. Dark skies heralded rain, or the rain had just passed. In the years after 1906, when the light-colored 'luminism' emerged, his paintings were the greatest possible contrast to that movement. It is remarkable that Gorter found a lot of appreciation in its cradle, France, and the French state bought a large canvas from him in 1904.

He had his first major solo exhibition in 1898 at the Amsterdam Kunsthandel Buffa. Isaac Israëls and he became the best-selling painters at Buffa. A second exhibition followed in 1900 at Oldenzeel in Rotterdam. In 1903 he married Sophie Hertz (1883-1979). In 1904 he exchanged the chairmanship of St. Lucas for the vice-chairmanship of Arti et Amicitiae. He became chairman in 1908 with fellow board members GH Breitner and Ed. Karsen. The policy he advocated with Arti was mainly 'keeping things together', which seemed necessary because St. Luke was prey to conflict and split-offs at the time and that had to be avoided with Arti. With its society and large number of 'art-loving' members, Arti not only offered an exhibition opportunity, but also the opportunity to come into contact with collectors and clients. Arti thus remained worthwhile for more modern painters such as Jan Sluijters and Leo Gestel to become a member. Later Gorter was often re-elected as chairman.

In 1913 he had a large house with studio built in Amsterdam. But the area around Vorden in the Achterhoek attracted more and more to paint outside and here he bought land with two old farms in 1916/17. He had a park-like forest built there and a country house built in 1925. Queen Wilhelmina, an amateur painter herself, invited Gorter to stay at Het Loo Palace in 1921, so that they could paint the autumn colors together. The following year, they were invited to join her on a five-week boat trip along the Norwegian coast, often going ashore to paint.

The many successes at international exhibitions resulted in a great demand for his work, especially in America. The large production of his labor-intensive paintings put him in a deteriorating health and also on the criticism that he repeated himself too much. Gorter's outdoor studies were more appreciated by the critics.

His popularity meant that his work was forged, copied and imitated during his lifetime. The crisis of 1929 put an end to the great demand for his work and the stomach ailment from which he had been suffering for a long time made painting increasingly difficult for him, until he succumbed to it in the autumn of 1933. Gorter was not against new directions, but he himself let go. guided more by love for nature than by developments in art. At first Gorter followed in the footsteps of the Hague School, but later developed his own view. His work can be divided into studies that he painted outdoors in small format and large paintings that he composed through these studies, but mainly based on his imagination. Sometimes these were enormous canvases intended for the major international exhibitions in Paris and Munich. Characteristic are the thick crusty paint structure and the sleek, angular composition.