Vilson Kilica, the Albanian painter, was born in Vlora. He studied painting at the Academy of Arts “Repin”, in Leningrad (former USSR). He was one of the most important artists in Albanian socialist realism painting, consolidated during 1960-1990. He created paintings with historical themes, portraits, and various landscapes during the years of the communist dictatorship in Albania. Silica was one of the five authors of the large mosaic on the facade of the National Historical Museum in Tirana (1981). He has made an important contribution to Albanian culture and art. With the creation of the Academy of Arts in Tirana (Instituti i Arteve, 1961), Kilica was its first director. He passed away in 2016. (In the photo: Kilica’s work “Brigadiers” is oil on canvas.)
Text: Ylli Drishti
Photo: © National Gallery of Art
Graphic processing: AHCF
