Stories of America's Wild West motivated him to leave Europe, and in 1877, he immigrated to the U.S.  He studied and worked for a year in New York City, and then moved to Chicago where he enrolled at the Art Institute of Chicago while supporting himself as a commercial artist.  His opportunity to go West came when he was commissioned to paint scenes along the route of the Northwestern Railway.

Hansen spent a few years roaming the cattle country of the West before settling in San Francisco in 1882.  There he became friends with William Keith and Maynard Dixon and held his first exhibition in 1901.  He made regular sketching trips to Montana and the Southwest in search of subject matter.  An exacting draftsman, he did meticulous renderings that accurately depict the horses, riders, and equipment of a bygone era.

Eugen Neuhaus stated in his History and Ideals of American Art: "His concern was more with photographic records of frontier life than with the beauties of design and color."  He has been hailed as the "Frederic Remington of the West Coast."

After the earthquake of 1906 destroyed his studio, Hansen moved across the bay to Alameda where he remained until his death on April 22, 1924.  During his last few months he did eight etchings under the tutelage of his son.  His work is in the collection of the California Historical Society.

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