Hafen was born in Switzerland in 1856, and after joining The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, his family immigrated to Utah, where Hafen developed his painting talents under the tutelage of George Ottinger and Dan Weggeland. In 1890, he and four others were sent to Paris as art missionaries, where they learned the new techniques of landscape painting - a loosening of brush strokes and freer use of color, but also the effects of light on their subjects - and were painting with greater proficiency.
