When you start to work on understanding the life of an artist like Kolë Idromeno, you realize how important it is to get the facts right, to know how to separate legend from historical reality, and to avoid the tendency to embellish reality. Even legends need to be grounded in the historical causes that created them.

These are key points that mark the process of understanding and documenting historical, geopolitical, economic, and cultural developments that created the conditions for the first photography studio and the first atelier of Albanian realistic art to open in Shkodra. Only after such a process can one explain why Shkodra was the first to become the cradle of Albanian realistic art, why Kolë Idromeno became the first Albanian realistic artist, and why it would be the young people of Shkodra who would be the first among Albanians to dream of becoming painters.