Ballabene studied philosophy and linguistics in Prague. His father forbade him from studying art, so he studied journalism instead and received a degree in journalism from the University of Prague. From 1909 to 1914 he worked as an actor in the theater. At the end of WWI, he went to work as a journalist. He married in 1928, at which point he decided to pursue art as a career. Ballabene was arrested by the Gestapo in 1939 for refusing to join the Nazi party. The Nazis confiscated his artwork and banned him from painting. Ballabene ignored the order and throughout the remainder of the war, many of his remaining works were destroyed and he and his wife were continually persecuted. Ballabene returned to Vienna after the war and continued to pursue his career as an artist.