Harriet Backer (21 January 1845 – 25 March 1932) was a Norwegian painter who achieved recognition in her own time and was a pioneer among female artists both in the Nordic countries and in Europe generally.

Her parents were Nils Backer (1815–1877) and Sofie Smith Petersen (1819–1882), and she was the aunt of the painter Astri Welhaven Heiberg (1881–1967).

She studied with art instructor Johan Fredrik Eckersberg (1861–65), in Berlin with Alphons Holländer (1866–1867), with artist Christen Brun (1867–1868) and attended the painting school of Knud Bergslien (1871–74).

She also spent a summer in the town of Rochefort-en-Terre in Morbihan painting with Léon Germain Pelouse, whom she called "the most natural man I have ever met.

From 1889 until 1912, she operated an art school and was an influence on a number of younger artists including Marie Hauge, Lars Jorde and Henrik Lund.

Backer exhibited her work at the Palace of Fine Arts at the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago, Illinois.

[9] From 1907 until his death in 1925, she received an annual private grant from wealthy industrialist and patron of the arts, Olaf Fredrik Schou (1861-1925).