Hans Dahl was born in the former village of Granvin, in Norway in February of 1849. The artist began his career in the army but was already drawing and painting in his early teen years. Hans became famous for his Romanticist paintings of the breathtaking views that surrounded him, resulting in beautiful landscape paintings of the Norwegian fjords, fields, and mountains.

It was only after leaving the army in 1874, that Dahl searched for formal art education. He ranked as a lieutenant around three years prior and was serving at the Sverresborg, a former castle used as a fortress by the Norwegian military. Dahl began studying under the history painter Knud Larsen Bergslien, and Johan Fredrik Eckersberg. The latter's landscape paintings were an essential key in the transition to Realism in Norway, from the prior Romanticist movement.

Dahl wished to continue his studies focusing on landscapes and decided to travel to the grand city of Karlsruhe. There, he was apprenticed by one of Norway's most successful landscape artist, Hans Fredrik Gude. He also had classes with Wilhelm Ludwig Riefstahl, a German artist who also worked with architectural painting. Dahl later moved to Germany, where he was enrolled at the Dusseldorf Academy, currently known as the Dusseldorf State Art Academy. During this period, he studied under German painters, among them Franz Karl Eduard von Gebhardt and Johann August Wilhelm Sohn.

In 1876, Dahl exhibited his work for the first time in Dusseldorf, where he lived until 1888 and was closely associated with the Dusseldorf School of painting. After that, the painter moved to Berlin but continued returning to Balestrand, in his home country, during the summertime. He gained a notable patron, Kaiser Wilhelm II, a German emperor, who became close to the painter, even visiting his summer home in Balestrand. In 1910, the emperor also granted a professorship to Dahl.

In 1881, Dahl and his wife, Helene Bewer, had a son named Hans Andreas Dahl, who followed in his father's footsteps and also became a painter. Helene's father, Clemens Bewer, was also a painter. Hans Dahls, the younger, tragically passed away at the early age of thirty-seven because of tuberculosis.

The 1890s marked an important transitional time in art history, as Modern thinkers were dominating the scene, and movements like Romanticism began to feel outdated. Dahl's popularity fell as he resisted change, not only from the public's view, but he was also criticized by fellow artists, like Christian Krohg. Although Dahl didn't seem successful during this transitional period, his colorful and bright portrayals of happy Norwegians surrounded by beautiful landscapes continue to be very popular in the present day.

The Royal Norwegian Order of Saint Olav knighted Hans Dahl in 1902 for his honorable work. Dahl passed away in Balestrand, Norway, in July 1937 - a location he was passionate about and can be seen in many of his masterpieces.