Hans Christian Bärenholdt, painter, printmaker, and graphic artist, was born in Køge, Denmark, on March 5, 1890. He studied at the Technical School in Køge between 1902 and 1908 and then at the Technical School in Copenhagen until 1910. Bärenholdt then entered at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Copenhagen and studied there until 1915. He also took study excursions to Switzerland (1912 - 1913) and Oslo where he studied etching with Johan Nordhagen (1913 - 1914). He was a pupil of Lauritz Tuxen, Peter Rostrup Boyesen, and Johannes Glob, and he studied privately with Peter Hansen.

In the early 1920s, Bärenholdt traveled throughout Germany and Italy to study and paint, and to support himself he worked as a graphic artist. He began exhibiting in 1911 and continued into the 1970s, participating in group and solo shows throughout the Netherlands, Norway, and Germany, as well as in Switzerland and London. He was primarily known for landscapes and his portraits of noted Danish figures, particularly prominent residents of Køge. He also produced a small body of color woodcuts.

His work is represented in London in the Victoria & Albert Museum and in Denmark in the Industrimuseet Frederiks Vaerk and the Rudersdal Museer.

Hans Christian Bärenholdt died in Copenhagen on August 31, 1976.