On Thursday, April 28, 2022, at the "Mother Teresa" University in Skopje, North Macedonia, the commemorative meeting was held, organized in honor of the life and great artistic activity of the world-famous painter Omer Kaleshi!
Rector of UNT, Prof. dr. Izet Zeqiri, in his welcome speech to the attendees, said that our world-famous painter has left a great wealth through his work, while the university has a whole gallery of 24 very precious works that will be a legacy for generations of students.
Present in honor of the painter Omer Kalesh was also the Grandfather of the Bektashian World, His Holiness Haxhi Dede Edmond Brahimaj, who highly appreciated his contribution to visual art, and said that he was lucky to have Omer Kalesh among them in Tirana three years ago , when he gave them a very precious gift, giving them a cycle of his paintings, in which case the "Omer Kaleshi" Gallery, which has taken its rightful place in the premises of the Odeon and today receives dozens and hundreds of visitors a day, best completing not only the mosaic of our cultural tradition, but also the identity of the Bektashi tariqat.
An emotional speech was given by his granddaughter Suzana Memedi, who shared with those present pieces from the life in the family of the painter Omer Kaleshi, and his constant concern about where to donate his paintings, so that they are maintained and at the service of new generations. .
The Albanian ambassador in Paris, Luan Rama, a follower of his activity for 30 years and a friend of the painter Kaleshi, said that with the extinction of our great painter, Albanian and world art as a whole has been lost.
The painter and university professor Reshat Ameti presented himself on artistic creativity, who described the death of Omer Kalesh for the elite Albanian culture, because according to him Kalesh was part of the world's elite artists, and compared him with Leonardo Da Vinci and other artists who are icons of art world.
The painter Omer Kaleshi was born in the village of Serbica in Kirçova in 1932, while he passed away on April 17, 2022. According to his wish, he was buried in Istanbul next to his father's grave. Part of his cultural heritage are the galleries named after him at UNT, Illyria University in Pristina, the National Gallery of Macedonia, the galleries in Bursa of Turkey and in Tirana.
The greeting of the Bektashi World Grandfather, His Holiness Haxhi Dede Edmond Brahimaj: "Bismilahi Rrahmani Rrahim! In the name of God Almighty and Merciful! Dear Ladies and Gentlemen, well-wishers, invited friends and family of Omer Kalesh! I am very honored and privileged to participate today in this commemoration of the world-famous artist and painter Omer Kalesh!
Expressing our heartfelt condolences to the family, for this great loss not only for them, for us, but for the entire Albanian-speaking nation and beyond!
It is not at all easy for me, today, when we speak in His absence….
I would like to remember with a lot of brotherly love today, this artist with unlimited territorial but also spiritual dimensions who always took Albania and the Albanians with him.
The Bektashi World Grandmother is extremely honored to have inaugurated the "Omer Kaleshi Gallery" with the donations of portraits of Dervishes and motifs of historical Albanian folklore, by the great artist Omer Kaleshi. A precious treasure gallery of historical, artistic and religious values, which today and forever we are lucky to have in the museum of the multifunctional center "Odeoni". The many visitors who come to see the Religious-Cultural Center in the Headquarter of Bektashi Community are surprised when they enter the "Omer Kaleshi" Gallery, which was inaugurated on November 21, 2019. It is the only gallery in Albania, a precious gift that the painter Kaleshi made the Bektashi World Headquarter. Not a few, but 20 paintings were exhibited there, where the figures of dervishes, one of the favorite subjects of the great painter, were put on the canvas. In this gallery, one after the other, the mystical world of the dervishes is displayed, which seem to be standing in some heavenly and earthly spaces. Ismail Kadare would write: "Where do those heads come from, what are they looking for... Distant as if spawned from a super-historical memory, they emerge one after the other, with that illumination that they have absorbed inside. It seems as if they want to give a word but they can't give it..." Omer Kaleshi, world famous artist who was born in North Macedonia but who Albania would accompany him everywhere...
Speaking about these portraits, Omer Kaleshi said that they have different states and that they are an expression of the face, what expresses the inner world of man. What excites me in a portrait is first of all the look. The eyes laugh, cry, show pain or joy and ultimately show the rare eyes of a dervish. Personally, I keep extraordinary impressions of the meetings with him, both in Paris, during the Bektashian days in honor of Naim Frashër, as well as in Tirana, as a friend of our Holy See. The simplicity and wisdom that surrounded that personality often reminds me of our dervishes and fathers, who in the most distant heavens, in their solitude, spread divine love even through their silence. The portraits that emerged from the soul of Omer Kalesh, which in most cases are visions of Bektashi dervishes, added a new dimension, not simply to this museum, but to our history, today and tomorrow.
A rare figure of our nation, a value of all humanity, who lived, created, promoted, an art of unattainable dimensions, which will remain a symbol of the promotion of Bektashi culture but also of all Albania with his brush of gold.
The Bektashi people will always remember, dear great and very modest artist, with the great work you gave, but along with it you also gave us a part of your soul!
May your soul rest in eternal peace, noble artist of all times, Omer Kaleshi, thank you for the wonderful work you leave behind!
God bless us all! Amin!
