Press Room
next
Barcelona the City of Culture, Fashion and Antoni Gaudi - Wednesday, January 31, 2007, Spain
Barcelona is a great city to visit. Martin Aas always find inspiration and pleasure in this Spanish city. Barcelona is known for its unique history, culture and fashion. By walking the streets, amazing scenery is just waiting to be captured by the lens of his camera.
Barcelona is also known as the city of Antoni Gaudi (1852 – 1926) – also known by the Castilian version of his name, Antonio Gaudi – a Spanish Catalan architect who belonged to the Modernisme (Art Nouveau) movement, like Czech,
Alphonse Mucha
(1860-1939). Antonio Gaudi was famous for his unique style and highly individualistic designs.
Gaudi was born in Baix Camp, in the area of Tarragona (Catalonia, Spain) in 1852. (While many believe his birthplace to be the town of Reus, others claim it was in fact Riudoms). It is certain that he was baptized in Reus a day after his birth. The artist's parents, Francesc Gaudi Serra and Antònia Cornet Bertran, both came from families of metalsmiths.
The youngest of five, Gaudi found himself unable to play with friends his age because of rheumatism (Although some believe he only had arthritis in his hands, and would mainly take walks). Because he was in considerable pain, he was rarely able to walk on foot and was forced to ride a donkey when he wanted to venture from his home. That he remained close to home allowed him substantial free time to inspect nature and its design. It has been hypothesized that it was this exposure to nature at an early age that began to hone two of his greatest qualities: observation and the analysis of nature.
Gaudi, as an architecture student at the Escola Tècnica Superior d'Arquitectura in Barcelona from 1873 to 1877, achieved only mediocre grades but did well in his "Trial drawings and projects" After five years of work, he was awarded the title of architect in 1878. As he signed Gaudi's title, Elies Rogent declared, "I have either found a lunatic or a genius."
The newly named architect immediately began to plan and design and would remain affiliated with the school his entire life.
Building in Barcelona by Spanish Catalan architect - Antoni Gaudi (1852 – 1926)
Gaudi was an ardent Catholic, to the point that in his later years, he abandoned secular work and devoted his life to Catholicism and his Sagrada Família. He designed it to have 20 towers, 12 for the 12 apostles, 4 for the 4 evangelists, one for Mary and one for Jesus. He was not able to complete this work due to his untimely death. Because he did not use blue prints but worked from his imagination his fellow workers could not complete it. Now it is being restored but you can see the difference between his work and the new additions to it.
It is for this that Gaudi is known to many in Spain as "God's Architect". Soon after, his closest family and friends began to die. His works slowed to a halt, and his attitude changed. Perhaps one of his closest family members – his niece Rosa Egea – died in 1912, only to be followed by a "faithful collaborator, Francesc Berenguer Mestres" two years later. After both tragedies, Barcelona fell on hard times, economically. The construction of La Sagrada Família slowed; the construction of La Colonia Güell ceased altogether. Four years later, Eusebi Güell, his patron, died.
Perhaps it was because of this unfortunate sequence of events that Gaudi changed. He became reluctant to talk with reporters or have his picture taken and solely concentrated on his masterpiece, La Sagrada Família.
La Sagrada Familia, Barcelona, Spain - Antoni Gaudi (1852 – 1926)
On June 8, 1926, Antoni Gaudi was run over by a tram. Because of his ragged attire and empty pockets, multiple cab drivers refused to pick him up for fear that he would be unable to pay the fare. He was eventually taken to a pauper's hospital in Barcelona. Nobody recognized the injured artist until his friends found him the next day. When they tried to move him into a nicer hospital, Gaudi refused, reportedly saying "I belong here among the poor." He died two days later on June 10, 1926, half of Barcelona mourning his death. It was, perhaps, fitting that he was buried in the midst of his unfinished masterpiece, La Sagrada Família.
Gaudi's first works were designed in the style of gothic and traditional Spanish architectural modes, but he soon developed his own distinct sculptural style. French architect Eugene Viollet-le-Duc, who promoted an evolved form of gothic architecture, proved a major influence on Gaudi. But the student surpassed the master architect and contrived highly original designs – irregular and fantastically intricate. Some of his greatest works, most notably La Sagrada Família, have an almost hallucinatory.
La Sagrada Familia is scheduled to be finished in 2050 - Antoni Gaudi (Barcelona, Spain)
He integrated the parabolic arch and hyperboloid structures, nature's organic shapes, and the fluidity of water into his architecture. While designing buildings, he observed the forces of gravity and related catenary principles. (Gaudi designed many of his arches upside down by hanging various weights on interconnected strings, using gravity to calculate catenaries for a natural curved arch. Using the trencadís technique, Gaudi often decorated surfaces with broken tiles.
The architect's work has been categorized as Art Nouveau architecture, a precursor to modern architecture. But his adoption of biomorphic shapes rather than orthogonal lines put him in a category unto himself (in Latin, sui generis). His style was later echoed by that of Austrian architect Friedensreich Hundertwasser (1928–2000).
Though hailed as a genius, some hypothesize that Gaudi was color blind and that it was only in collaboration with Josep Maria Jujol – an architect twenty seven years his junior whom he acknowledged as a genius in his own right – that he produced his greatest works.
Gaudi, throughout his life, was fascinated by nature. He studied nature's angles and curves and incorporated them into his designs. Instead of relying on geometric shapes, he mimicked the way trees and humans grow and stand upright. The hyperboloids and paraboloids he borrowed from nature were easily reinforced by steel rods and allowed his designs to resemble elements from the environment. Because of his rheumatism, the artist observed a strict vegetarian diet, used homeopathic drug therapy, underwent water therapy, and hiked regularly. Long walks, besides suppressing his rheumatism, further allowed him to experience nature.
The (finishing) constructions of La Sagrada Familia is founded by donates - Antoni Gaudi (Barcelona, Spain)
Gaudi's originality was at first ridiculed by his peers. Indeed, he was first only supported by the rich industrialist Eusebi Güell. His fellow citizens referred to the Casa Milà as La Pedrera ("the quarry"), and George Orwell, who stayed at Barcelona during the Spanish Civil War, admittedly loathed his work. As time passed, though, his work became more famous, up to the point that he is now considered one of Spain's best and brightest.
The opportunities afforded by Catalonia's socioeconomic and political influences were endless. Catalonians such as Antoni Gaudi often showcased the region's diverse art techniques in their works. By mimicking nature, such artists symbolically pushed back the province's ever-increasing industrial society. Gaudi, among others, promoted the Catalan nationalist movement by incorporating elements of Catalan culture in his designs.
next
