Aasta Hansteen was born in Christiania, modern day Oslo, the daughter of Christopher Hansteen, a noted professor of astronomy, geophysics and applied mathematics at the University of Oslo. She started her art education in Copenhagen (1840 - 1841) where she learned to draw. She continued her training for three years at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf where she studied fine brush alignment. She is associated with the Düsseldorf school of painting. She exhibited her work at the 1855 World's Fair in Paris.