Category: Figure

Today Gaudí has become a world-famous architect, the top name in Catalan architecture. Over the years, his works have gone from being obscure or even criticised to achieving international renown and being symbols and icons of an increasingly global Barcelona. In fact, 2002 was declared the International Year of Gaudí in commemoration of the 150th anniversary of his birth.

Gaudí was an outstanding and unique architect, very much one of a kind; a dreamer and yet rigorous, he was attracted by concepts which may have seemed contradictory but which for him were necessarily bound together. He was at once a craftsman and an artist, the architect of both religious and civil buildings, very strict when it came to technical details, and possessed of a creativity which knew no bounds. But above all, he was an architect who drew his inspiration not only from nature but equally from historical styles and traditional types of construction. He also had a surpassing vision: that of creating new forms which would allow him to experiment and to develop his creative interests.

Many influences – oriental, neoclassical and neo-Mudejar among others – can be seen in his architecture; however Gaudí mixed these styles with new solutions and materials such as iron, concrete, glass and ceramic tiles, materials which could be produced industrially to bring down the cost. He was also a pioneer of such contemporary notions as ecology, using recycled materials in his work.

Gaudí broke away from all previous tradition and created a new language, and although it contained elements similar to those used by other past or contemporary movements, it turned these around, reinterpreted them and took them to new levels. There is no doubt that Gaudíwas a modernist, perhaps even its greatest exponent. There are even those who believe that he created a new style in its own right.

Gaudí lived in an era which was characterised by the intense economic and urban development of Barcelona, the adoption of technical changes driven by the industrial revolution, and the dawn of a prosperous Catalan bourgeoisie who were interested in artistic projects and the restoration of Catalan values through the movement known as the Renaixença (the Rebirth). All of these aspects had an influence on Gaudí, on his ideas and on his methods of working.

His family background clearly also had an impact on his work. Gaudí was from a family of boilermakers, and this influenced his understanding of space and his competence for manual trades. His poor health during childhood prevented him from going to school, and Gaudí spent long periods in the countryside, in the town of Riudoms (Tarragona), where he passed his days absorbed in the contemplation of nature and animals. Organic elements always stand out in his architecture.

In professional terms, Gaudí is closely linked to Barcelona, the city in which he completed his studies and which is home to the vast majority of his works. One of his first important projects was Casa Vicens. At that time, at the beginning of his career, he also entered into one of the most productive partnerships in the history of patronage: his relationship with Eusebi Güell, who also became one of his closest friends.

Gaudí designed a spectacular display case for the Comella glove manufacturer at the International Exhibition in Paris. Made of iron, its originality immediately captivated Güell, who then commissioned Gaudí to build the entrance to his estate in Pedralbes, Finca Güell, and it was there that Gaudí built his first catenary arch.

After this followed a whole host of commissions, among them Palau Güell, Casa Botines, Casa Calvet, Park Güell, Bellesguard, Casa Batlló, La Pedrera, and many other buildings.

Antoni Gaudí died on June 10^th, three days after being hit by a tram, in the Hospital of the Holy Cross, between five and six in the afternoon, according to the newspapers of the time, which also echo the crowd of people who came to the hospital to say their last goodbye to the 74 year old architect. It has gone down in the history of the city of Barcelona the great outpouring of grief that citizens surrendered to Gaudí, with numerous Masses and tributes. Although the burial had no official character, and responded to the desires of simplicity that Gaudí professed, is remembered for being the most massive, leaving the Hospital de la Santa Cruz, arriving at the cathedral for Mass burial and then addressing the Sagrada Familia to deposit the corpse in the chapel of Carmen in the crypt of the Sagrada Familia after the dirge. Throughout the journey the coffin was accompanied by many admirers, disciples and friends as well as black ribbons in various buildings and houses located on the route between the hospital and the Basilica of the Sagrada Familia.

Antoni Gaudí was hit by a tram from the 30^th line on June 7 in the “Gran Via de les Corts Catalanes”, between the streets Girona and Bailen, as he was goingto the Sant Felip Neri Church. For his unkempt appearance was not recognised, it was even mistaken for a beggar and was not rescued until a policeman ordered a taxi to take the body to the Hospital of the Holy Cross in the Raval. Within a few hours his friends and employees of the works of the Sagrada Familia, kicked missing his presence and eventually found out what happened. After the accident, the condition of the architect was quite serious, he had fractured three ribs, and the brain, the heart and stomach were affected.

In 1910 a major exhibition of Gaudí’s work opened in the Gran Palais in Paris, and this was the only exhibition outside of Spain dedicated to the architect during his lifetime.

However, if Gaudí had one key commission in 1878, it was without a doubt the design of a small display stand for the Spanish Pavilion at the International Exhibition in Paris that same year. One of the visitors to the exhibition hall, Mr. Eusebi Güell i Bacigalupi, was so impressed by the originality of the stand that he asked to be put in contact with its creator. This marked the beginning of both a professional relationship and a close friendship between them that would last for 40 years. From that point onwards, Güell was his best client. Gaudídesigned and built magnificent works for him, with painstaking attention to even the smallest details, which contributed to expanding his genius and his originality as an architect.

The year 1878 marked the beginning of Gaudí’s intense professional activity. During that year he won a competition organised by the Barcelona City Council for his design and production of some street lamps (located in two squares, Plaça Reial and Pla de Palau), he was awarded a commission for Casa Vicens, his first important work, and he drew up preliminary plans for an industrial complex with residential quarters for the Obrera Mataronense workers’ cooperative. This was an important time for Gaudí. It was a period of research and hard work in which he learned to use the tools which would enable him to create his works of great genius in the years to come.

Gaudí moved to Barcelona to study the final year of his secondary education and to do the foundation course at the School of Architecture. By that time, Gaudíhad already distinguished himself as a result of his creative genius and through a flair for calculus. From early on in his studies, the brilliant architect was hard at work in the studios of eminent professors and masters of the craft such as Francisco Paula de Villar and Josep Fontseré. It was in the studio of the latter that Gaudí achieved the first recognition of his work: on his own initiative he corrected a task that had been given to a fellow student – designing the water tank for the Cascada Fountain in Parc de la Ciutadella.

Antoni Gaudí was a pupil at the Piarist School in Reus, where he stood out on account of his gift for analysing and rationalising questions. During his adolescence, Gaudí formed a strong friendship with two of his fellow pupils: Eduard Toda and Josep Ribera. The three young men were enthusiastic about nature and interested in history, and were very fond of going on excursions. On one of these outings, Josep Ribera brought his friends to an abandoned building that he had discovered: the ruins of the Santa María de Poblet monastery. The three youths made a resolution to restore the ancient building. Of that enthusiastic youthful project, all that remains is a floor plan drawn by Gaudí, who must have been about 15 at the time, and a note written by his companions. For Gaudí, that experience was undoubtedly the declaration of his vocation as an architect.

The son of Francesc Gaudí i Serra, a boilermaker, and Antonia Cornet i Bertran, Antoni Plàcid Guillem Gaudí i Cornet, was born on a hot 25th of June 1852 in Reus (Tarragona). Gaudí spent his childhood between Reus, where his parents had their business, and the countryside, in a small cottage owned by his mother known as Mas de la Calderera – the Boilermaker’s house – as his mother’s family had also been involved in that craft. Frequent contact with nature may have been one of the factors that stimulated two of the abilities which were to become crucial in the development of his work: the observation and meticulous analysis of the natural world.