Louise Ravn-Hansen was a student of the floral painter Emma Mulvad (1838–1903) and for a short period of the painter Jørgen Roed (1808–1888). In the years around 1871–76, she studied at Vilhelm Kyhn's (1819–1903) Tegneskole for Kvinder (Drawing School for Women) together with (1848–1925) and Emilie Mundt (1842–1922) among others. Ravn-Hansen specialized as a landscape painter and found her motifs on travels in Denmark, Switzerland, Germany, and Italy e.g. She also worked with graphics and produced several etchings of landscapes, which were published by Den Danske Radeerforening and Foreningen Fremtiden. Ravn-Hansen had her debut at the December Exhibition on Charlottenborg in 1877 and she continued until her death to exhibit at Charlottenborg’s Spring Exhibition. She also participated in the Women’s Exhibition (Kvindernes Udstilling fra Fortid og Nutid) in 1895 and was represented with works in the Women Artists’ Retrospective Exhibition (Kvindelige Kunstneres Retrospektive Udstilling) in 1920 in Copenhagen. She supported the women's movement, and in 1888 she, together with 22 other women artists, signed a request to the parliament to give women access to The Academy of Fine Arts, which happened the same year with the establishment of Kunstakademiets Kunstskole for Kvinder (The Academy of Fine Arts' School of Art for Women).

On a trip to the printing house in Berlin, where she produced her etchings, she drowned in the Havel River under unsolved circumstances. After her death, the Louise Ravn-Hansen Grant was founded. It was administered by The Royal Academy of Fine Arts and awarded to female landscape painters. In 1916, it was awarded for lifetime to Emma Meyer (1859–1921), the close friend and travel companion of Louise Ravn-Hansen.