Dimitrie Berea was born in Bacau, and became a painter who was commisioned by the aristocratic and royal families of Europe and the art world of France and America. His father was a lawyer-politician and his mother was a painter who studied her craft at the French Ecole des Beaux Arts. While most parents would consider art a less than desireable career choice, Dimitrie's family was supportive of him pursuing painting being that they had been involved in the arts for a number of generations. At the age of nineteen, Dimitrie enroleld at the Academy of Architecture, in Bucharest and attended the school for the next five years. While in the academy he and his master teacher, Theodorescu-Sion and a student friend, created a non-conformist painting academy called "ILEANA". This academy/school served progressive young artists. During the 1930s Berea became a rising young Romanian painter.