Carmen Belean studied at the National University of Art Bucharest (Romania), the University of Art and Design Cluj (Romania), and the Athens School of Fine Arts (Greece).
Belean is known for her realistic, luscious oil paintings inspired by nature and themes of femininity, loneliness, and aesthetics. Drawing on a representational painting discourse, combined with a feminist narrative, her work contributes to a broader concept of women's experience and identity. The viewer is initially lured into her work by the privilege of being a witness to intimate snapshots of women's lives, later to discover that there is also something more complicated and mysterious underlying these paintings such as a feeling of loneliness or melancholy or something else, harder to define.
Painting skill is essential in Belean's work. An exponent of the Cluj school of painting, after receiving her BA (Hons) in Painting in 2005 and MA in Graphic Arts (Lithography) in 2007, she took an apprenticeship for four years in a painting studio in Athens (Greece). In 2015 she obtained her PhD in Fine Arts/Painting from the University of Art in Cluj. Since 2004 she has exhibited nationally and internationally including in Spain, Greece, Italy, Germany, Netherlands, Czech Republic, Korea, and USA.