Corneliu Baba (1906-1997), another famous Romanian painter, lived in the 20th century and is best known for his portraits. Most of his works stayed in Romania and many local museums exhibit at least a painting of Baba's.

He painted the portraits of actress Lucia Sturdza-Bulandra, composer George Enescu, writer Mihail Sadoveanu and poet Tudor Arghezi. Inspired by Rembrandt, Baba used to prepare his portraits by doing numerous sketches of the hands and eyes.