Ibrahim Kodra was born in Ishëm of Durrës on April 22, 1918 and was an internationally renowned Albanian painter, in fact considered the most important internationally recognized Albanian painter.

His life in Tirana, in the dormitory of the “Naim Frashëri” school, was interrupted when he was 20 years old (1938) and left Albania with a scholarship from the Albanian Royal Court to the Academy of Fine Arts in Rome.

He leaves Rome and ends up in Milan, at the Brera Academy of Fine Arts. He exhibits in Rome, Milan, Venice, Paris, Belgrade, New York, etc., and creates comparisons and relations with other great painters such as Picasso, Marc Chagall, Henry Matisse, Lucio Fontana, and Renato Guttuso.

His works are in the Museum of Vatican, in the Chamber of Deputies (House of Representatives) of the Italian Parliament in Rome, and in exclusive private collections all around the world. In 1996 he was awarded in Albania with the “Honor of the Nation” Order.

Shortly after painting ‘Albania Fantastica’, he was appointed honorary consul of the Republic of Albania. He passed away in Milan on February 7, in 2006 and was buried in front of the Ishëm Castle as his will was.

/a.p./