painting of ship and people on beach — Edi Hila, Under the Hot Sun, From the series Paradox, 2005 Brian McCarthy and Daniel Sager Collection, New York

Edi Hila

Fracured Horizons

Malmö, 8.11 2025 – 12.4 2026

Edi Hila is regarded as one of Albania’s most important artists – a painter who has immortalized his homeland’s dramatic social transformation while poetically capturing the shifting conditions of the global world we share.

Edi Hila’s paintings possess a remarkable ability to transform fragments of reality into timeless poetry and to make the invisible visible – moods, relationships, and changing values.

Despite their contemporary themes, Hila’s works are deeply rooted in the aesthetics of the Italian Renaissance. With pink, blue, and golden tones set against the greyness of concrete, they evoke both the weight of history and the fragility of dreams.

As viewers, we are led through hot air and dusty streets, yet the stillness and poetic palette anchor us in an art-historical tradition that reaches back centuries.

Edi Hila was born in 1944 in Shkodra, northern Albania, and today lives in the capital, Tirana. His artistic oeuvre has made him one of the most respected artists in the Balkan region. The exhibition at Moderna Museet Malmö is his first solo exhibition in Scandinavia.

The exhibition is initiated and curated by Joa Ljungberg, Moderna Museet Malmö, and Corinne Diserens, Hamburger Kunsthalle. It is jointly produced by Moderna Museet Malmö and Hamburger Kunsthalle, and is accompanied by a jointly published multilingual publication.

The exhibition is shown in the galleries on Floor 2.

A more extensive press kit will be available closer to the exhibition opening. For any questions, or requests for additional press images, please contact press.malmo@modernamuseet.se.

painting in black and blue of abstract from

Edi Hila, Peolpe of the Future, From the series Migrations, 1997 Courtesy of the artist and Galleria Raffaella Cortese, Milan–Albisola

Edi Hila, House Surrounded by Wall , From the series Transitional Landscapes, 2000 Collection of the artist, Courtesy
Galerie Mitterand

Edi Hila, Under the Hot Sun, From the series Paradox, 2005 Brian McCarthy and Daniel Sager Collection, New York

Edi Hila, Street Scene, From the series Threat, 2005 Courtesy Brian McCarthy & Daniel
Sager, NYC

Edi Hila, Penthouse 7, From the series Penthouse, 2013 Collection of the artist, Courtesy Galerie Mitterand

Edi Hila, Conversation, From the series Relations, 2014 Courtesy Collection Van Abbe Museum, Eindhoven, the Netherlands Photo: Peter Cox Eindhoven, the Netherlands

Edi Hila, Boulevard 1, From the series Martyrs of the Nation Boulevard, 2015 Private collection, Switzerland

Edi Hila, Boulevard 3, From the series Martyrs of the Nation Boulevard, 2015 Collection of Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw Photo: Bartek Zalewski

Edi Hila, Pyramides, From the series Relations, 2011 Courtesy Collection Van Abbe Museum, Eindhoven, the Netherlands Photo: Peter Cox Eindhoven, the Netherlands

Edi Hila, A Tent on the Roof of a Car, From the series with the same name, 2017 Courtesy Kontakt Collection, Vienna

Edi Hila, In the Abyss, 2025 Courtesy of the artist