Born in Hanoi in 1942 and originally from Nội Duệ, Tiên Du, Bắc Ninh, Nguyễn Hải Yến is a distinguished Vietnamese art historian and researcher whose work has contributed significantly to the study and preservation of twentieth-century Vietnamese art.

A former student of Trưng Vương High School in Hanoi, she graduated from the Department of Literature at Hanoi University of Education in 1964. From 1964 to 1970, she worked at the Institute of Fine Arts under the Ministry of Culture; from 1971 to 1998, she served at the Vietnam National Fine Arts Museum. She also taught at the Hanoi Academy of Theatre and Cinema, the College of Journalism and Television, and the Hanoi College of Arts.

Over more than five decades devoted to Vietnamese art, Nguyễn Hải Yến has conducted extensive research into Vietnamese painting across different periods, with particular focus on the formative decades of modern Vietnamese art. Her scholarship has helped illuminate the lives, careers, and historical significance of many important Vietnamese artists.

Her major publications and scholarly contributions include The Painter Nguyễn Phan Chánh (1992); The Painter Tô Ngọc Vân (co-authored, 1982); Hanoi Art in a Bygone Era (co-authored, 2010); Vietnamese Art in the Modern Period, 1930–1945; entries on Vietnamese artists in the Encyclopedic Dictionary; and Hanoi Painting – Memories That Remain, published by PICTURE Art Foundation, USA, in 2010, which received an award from the Central Theoretical Council.

Drawing on decades of scholarship, firsthand experience at major cultural institutions and museums, and an extensive knowledge of Vietnamese art history, Nguyễn Hải Yến has played an important role in documenting, interpreting, and bringing the heritage of Vietnamese art to audiences both in Vietnam and abroad.

In Nguyễn Gia Trí – A Vietnamese Lacquer Legend, her research and reflections provide an important scholarly foundation, helping situate Nguyễn Gia Trí within the historical context and broader development of twentieth-century Vietnamese art.