Sabin Bălașa (June 17, 1932 – April 1, 2008) stood as a contemporary Romanian artist recognized for his distinctive style, which he referred to as cosmic Romanticism. Hailing from Dobriceni, Olt County, Bălașa's artistic journey commenced. After finishing his secondary education at Frații Buzești High School in Craiova in 1950, he pursued studies at the Nicolae Grigorescu Fine Arts Institute in Bucharest, where he successfully graduated in 1955. His quest for artistic enrichment also took him to Italy, specifically to Siena and Perugia. During the years 1973 and 1976, the Bucharest Mayor's office commissioned and compensated Bălașa for creating portraits of Nicolae and Elena Ceaușescu. However, by the late 1980s, Bălașa faced allegations of contributing to the propagation of Ceaușescu's personality cult. In December 2000, President Emil Constantinescu honored him with the Commander rank of the National Order of Merit. In June 2005, Bălașa initiated legal action against the French newspaper Le Monde for defamation. This legal action stemmed from the newspaper's publication of a propaganda painting by another artist, falsely attributing it to Bălașa. Following subsequent investigations, Le Monde acknowledged their error. His life journey concluded in 2008 due to lung cancer at Sfânta Maria Hospital in Bucharest. His resting place is at Eternitatea Cemetery in Iași.

Sabin Bălașa - Wikipedia