Horses according to modern impressionism by Gjergj Kola

Gjergj Kola is a great friend of the Horse Museum Foundation and for years his paintings have been an integral part of our Collection.

He was born in Durazzo in Albania and studied painting and lithography in Scutari and Tirana. He lives most of his life between Greece and Italy, finding time to participate in exhibitions in the Balkans, in Italy and in the United States. In 1991, due to the political conditions of his country, he moved to Greece. After a passage in the Marche where we met him, he now lives in Riva del Garda.

He is currently considered one of the major Albanian painters and his works are exhibited in art galleries and private collections in many countries. He has also exhibited at the Louvre, the Casa Batlo in Barcelona and the Museum of Art in the United States.

When he speaks you never know which language to use but this wealth of experience has allowed him to learn to read people beyond words . He captures them with the brush and imprints their life on the canvas. It is no coincidence that this is what happened portraying Maria and her horses.

In her features we perceive an uncommon vitality and joy and, thanks to this extreme sensitivity, the love between man and horse, it appears even more sweet and vibrant.

According to Gjergj, art is expressed with the figure of a portrait in which the painter must be able to convey character and strength using the richness of materials and colors: and this is not an easy challenge. In fact, he is always looking for a new high level of interpretation that can convey the particularities of each person, and in this case also of each horse.

In these paintings Gjergj Kola has used different techniques (watercolors and oil) but the color is everywhere and invites to the joy of love, to dreams, to appreciate the lightheartedness of life. The shapes are often created by color without a stroke that defines them, other times instead it is the brush that, skillfully and with certainty of lines, makes us enjoy the seductive beauty of Maria's face and the connection with her horses.

In Maria's different faces there are eyes full of dreams, but also long hair in the wind, red cheeks to express the sweet love for the animal, and eternal hugs as if to say: you are mine forever.

Gjergj has the ability to enter into a complete relationship with the person he portrays, seeking harmony and aesthetic balance to capture the most positive and tender aspects. And that's how he expresses people in their best light.