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Gaudí’s work and style
Born in Reus, near Tarragona, to a family
of artisans, the work of
Antoni Gaudí i
Cornet
(1852–1926) was never strictly
modernista
in style, but the imaginative
impetus he provided was incalculable. His
buildings are the most daring creations
of all Art Nouveau, yet whether an
apartment building (La Pedrera), private
housing estate (Parc Güell), or church
(Sagrada Família), Gaudí’s apparently
lunatic flights of fantasy are always rooted
in functionality. Spiritual symbolism and
Catalan pride are evident in every building
too, while his architectural influences
were Moorish and Gothic, embellished
with elements from the natural world.
Gaudí rarely wrote a word about the
theory of his art, preferring the buildings
to demand reaction – no one stands mute
in front of an Antoni Gaudí masterpiece.
The Gaudí trail
There’s a constant stream of visitors to the
major sites, notably the
Sagrada Família
– probably the most famous church in the
world – the roof terrace of
La Pedrera,
Casa Batlló
and the glorious
Parc Güell
,
but even in this most Gaudí-obsessed city
there are a few places where you can meet
the master without the crowds.While he
was rebuilding his
Palau Güell
townhouse,
the architect’s longtime patron, industrialist
Eusebi Güell, commissioned the young
Gaudí to revamp his summer house in the
northern suburbs, and at the
Pavellons
Güell
Gaudí’s celebrated dragon gate and
innovative stables await. Meanwhile, on
the city’s western outskirts, Gaudí was also
designing his patron’s utopian industrial
town,the
Colònia Güell
,with an uplifting
chapel whose design foreshadowed that of
the Sagrada Família.
Parc Güell
La Pedrera