1969年出生于浙江建德。高中毕业后自学中国画，并钻研中国先秦学术和古典文学，撰有《耕心庐论词笔札》《耕心謣录》《夕山小集》等文言著述若干种。2000年，作为艺术史学者范景中教授的助手，受聘于南京师范大学美术学院，从事中国美术史论的研究和教学工作。2001-2003年，入杭州佛学院学习梵语和佛学。2002年，在学者吴熊和、孔仲起、章祖安、吴山明、范景中、许江、曹意强等十多位专家的积极推动下，以讲师身份正式入职中国美术学院艺术人文学院，讲授中国先秦学术及艺术史。2007年，由著名学者季羡林、汤一介、王元化等向教育部联名推荐，王霖获准以高中学历攻读博士研究生。现为中国美术学院视觉中国研究院研究员，美术学博士，“中国绘画史研究” 及 “中国佛教美术研究” 方向研究生导师，博士后合作导师。王霖长期从事中国古典学术研究，对中国思想史和中国文学理论、中国画论有深入考察。近十余年来，在中印佛学史和佛教美术领域也有研讨。撰成《先秦学术通论》《画学丛证条辨》《恽南田年谱》《神格与世相：早期中国罗汉信仰及图像研究》《觉堂读书志》等著作若干种，在各类学术刊物发表论文数十篇。
Wang Lin was born in Jiande, Zhejiang Province in 1969. Self-studied Chinese painting after graduating from high school, he had then studied the pre-Qin academic and classical Chinese literature, and composed of several books in classical Chinese, such as Notes on poetry criticism by Gengxinlu, Gengxinyulu, and A short collection of writings by Xishan. In 2000, as an assistant of art historian Professor Fan Jingzhong, he was employed by School of Fine Arts, Nanjing Normal University, engaged in the research and teaching of Chinese art history theory. From 2001 to 2003, Wang Lin studied Sanskrit and Buddhist thought at Hangzhou Buddhist Institute. In 2002, under the active promotion of scholars Wu Xionghe, Kong Zhongqi, Zhang Zu’an, Wu Shanming, Fan Jingzhong, Xu Jiang, Cao Yiqiang and more than 10 other experts, he officially joined the School of Art and Humanities of China Academy of Art as a lecturer, teaching Chinese Pre-Qin academic and art history. In 2007, Ji Xianlin, Tang Yijie, Wang Yuanhua and other famous scholars jointly recommended him to the Ministry of Education, and Wang Lin was allowed to pursue doctoral studies with a high school diploma. Currently, he is a researcher of Visual China Research Institute of China Academy of Art, Doctor of Fine Arts, postgraduate supervisor and postdoctoral co-supervisor in the direction of “Research on the History of Chinese Painting” and “Research on Chinese Buddhist Art”. Wang Lin has been engaged in Chinese classical academic research for a long time, and has in-depth investigation of Chinese ideological history, Chinese literary theory and Chinese painting theory. In the past ten years, he has also conducted research in the field of Buddhist history and art in China and India. He has composed several works, such as General Academic Theory of Pre-Qin Dynasty, Huaxue congzheng tiaobian, Yun Nantian Chronology, Godhead and Secular appearance: A Study on the Beliefs and Images of the Luohan in Early China, and Juetang Reading Notes, etc, and has published dozens of papers in various academic journals.
