Picasso and 70 other world painters bring their works to Albania

TIRANA, April 25 – Albanian art lovers, who live in one of Europe’s poorest countries, can pay just 1.5 euros to have a look at Picasso’s Figura or Chagall’s The Christ with candles at an exposition that landed last week in their capital.
An exhibition with 71 works of Italian and international painters will stay open until end of May at the capital Tirana’s National Gallery of Arts.
It seemed that bringing the work of some of the most known world painters in Tirana was a challenge and a dream come true for the Gallery director Rubens Shima.
Albanians who cannot follow such collections worldwide needed to see with their own eyes the works of such grandiose names of the world art like Pablo Picasso, Marc Chagall, Joan Miro and others starting from those of the 16-17th century, said Shima.
“I had been really dreaming to see a Picasso if I went abroad but that’s here, in front of my eyes. Look at it,” said Julinda, an art student moving hands to show her excitement and shy with rosy cheeks.
The works are part of a collection of Italian Francesco Martani based in Bologna, Italy.
The paintings cost between half a million to three million euros ($670,000-4 million) each, he said.
After a year of negotiations with Martani, and Italian foundation and town halls of Bologna and Mantova made possible to pay for the security and insurance of the works and their arrival at the gallery, according to Shima.