Donka Konstantinova was born in Sliven, into a family of secondary school teachers. Her brother Konstantin Konstantinov (1890-1970) was a renowned Bulgarian writer and translator. D. Konstantinova graduated from the State Industrial Art School (later the State Art Academy) in Sofia in 1916 as a student of Tseno Todorov (1877-1953), Stefan Ivanov (1875-1951) and the Czech painter Ivan (Jan Václav) Mrkvička (1856-1938). After graduation, she continued her artistic formation in the studios of the State Industrial Art School until 1919.
Her artistic career began in May 1920 with a joint exhibition with the artist Vasil Zahariev (1895-1971) at the Trapko Art Gallery, in Sofia. The catalogue lists 35 works, paintings and drawings. Little is known about what D. Konstantinova presented for the occasion, as she rarely dated her works. The same year she participated in the exhibition of the newly founded Society of Independent Artists. She also participated in exhibitions of the Society of Women Artists.  The press noted her appearances in the society’s exhibitions in Sofia in 1932 and in 1936, and in Belgrade in 1937.

In 1925-1926, D. Konstantinova was in Paris, where she spent time in museums and galleries. She visited the French capital several times in the 1930s. Her experience of the city’s modern art is expressed both in her subject matter and in the pictorial style of her paintings – space, chromaticism, light, etc, as in Paris (n.d.), Taverna (n.d.) and Rest (n.d.).
D. Konstantinova mainly created landscapes – both natural and urban – portraits and interior scenes. Along with oil painting, she also worked with pastels. She illustrated the first edition of Tales for You, a children’s book by Konstantin Konstantinov, in 1924, as well as other books by her brother. She devoted her entire life to her artistic activities, until her death in 1973 in Sofia.

Today D. Konstantinova’s oil paintings and pastels can be seen in the National Gallery, Sofia, Sofia City Art Gallery, Sliven Art Gallery, in other public galleries in Bulgaria, and in private collections.
Over the years, posthumous exhibitions of D. Konstantinova’s work have been organised, including by the Sofia City Art Gallery in 1979, the Sliven Art Gallery in 2015 and the Stara Zagora Art Gallery in 2024.