Prime Minister Edi Rama attended the opening of a new exhibition by painter Naxhi Bakalli, held at the Center for Openness and Dialogue (COD). He described the exhibition as a “beautiful display of lines and colors.”

“Welcome for Professor Naxhi, not for me! In this emotional moment for the professor and his admirers, I wish to share not a lengthy speech about his paintings but rather two experiences from my own relationship with him,” Rama began.

“I remember the Professor as a dignified, reserved figure, sitting behind the glass-paneled door of his studio at the Artistic High School. Due to my height, I would peer through the glass, and he was always there, seated at the teacher’s desk, sketching. Whenever I see him, I recall that time and that glass frame, and it always brings me back to a moment when I felt very small before him,” he reflected.

He continued with another memory: “Whenever I watch films depicting monks working on illuminated manuscripts or calligraphy, I am reminded of the Professor. If you’ve seen The Name of the Rose, it shows monks hunched over ancient pages, writing and painting.”

Rama also added a third, poetic image that united these memories, one which portrays Bakalli’s commitment to his craft: “Down the corridor, there’s a painting of a man and a woman in bed—this is Professor Bakalli’s enduring love letter to his wife. Today is the first time I see him without her by his side, within arm’s reach. I asked, ‘Where is love?’ And he responded that his beloved stepped aside to give him the stage today.”

Reflecting on Bakalli’s work, Rama praised him as a rare and valuable figure. He highlighted Bakalli’s evolution as an artist who, despite the constraints of socialist realism, managed to subtly critique and transcend those formulas, innovating with every new work. He noted, “When you unite the paintings with the artist himself, everything becomes clear. Bakalli embodies both asceticism and romanticism, and that is what makes him unique. I have only seen him without his legendary beret twice: once when he was in class by the window, placing it on the table like Skanderbeg’s armor after returning from battle, and once in a painting where he’s in bed, his beret aside, because that painting is one of his love declarations.”

He concluded by expressing hope that all who attended would enjoy “this beautiful display of lines and colors” and leave with a heightened appreciation for the work of Bakalli and those who made the exhibition possible.

Bakalli himself expressed gratitude for those present, acknowledging this as a significant milestone in his career. “Thank you for being here at such a moment! You are my people, sharing the same artistic journey. I collaborated with open and communicative individuals in this project. My deepest gratitude to the team who brought this event to fruition.”

He added, “Thank you for becoming part of this emotional collective experience, as each artwork with its own struggles benefits from your engagement. My works are sincere, they speak for themselves, yet they never forget to whom they belong. They belong to the country that you, too, cherish deeply—a reflection of an evolving phenomenon that is truly possible.”

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