Antoni Gaudí- A biography

In case anyone hadn't yet realised, I'm a bit of a fan of Antoni Gaudí! So I thought I'd give a bit of a short biography and then maybe follow it up in later weeks with blogs on some of his more famous works. Hope you find this interesting!

Antoni Gaudí, famous as one of the most prominent architects of the Art Nouveau movement that developed during the late 19^th and early 20^th Century, is considered one of the most famous Spaniards of all time. Such a claim is possibly misrepresentative, however, since Gaudí was an extreme Catalan nationalist; few of his works were built outside of the region’s capital Barcelona and even fewer outside of Catalonia itself, and his works were always steeped in regionalist symbology. Such a passion for his nation made him popular with his contemporaries and continues to provoke admiration and pride among Catalans today.

Born on June 25^th 1852, Gaudí was by no means a child prodigy, receiving average marks both at his first school and at his second. Instead he impressed his teachers with his dedication to his work and his willingness to improve, a characteristic that was to continue into his later life and earned him excellent marks by the end of his school career. His main passion, however, was for nature and the rural landscape in which he lived, which he was able to explore and observe intensely due to a rheumatic problem that prevented him from travelling far without a donkey or playing with other children. This was to greatly influence his architecture, where he often incorporated ideas such as flowing water and fallen leaves into his designs, and in particular his construction of the Parc Guell, where he worked with the natural hills and forbade the felling of trees to harmonise his work with the environment.

In 1868 Gaudí moved to Barcelona to study architecture, but rarely stood out amongst his classmates and showed a tendency to skip class in favour of the library or lectures in other subjects such as History, Philosophy or Economics which he felt were essential to architecture. He received his only excellent grades in a design for an Entry Gate for a cemetery, where his setting of the scene with a hearse and people in mourning caused his tutor to question whether he was dealing with a genius or a madman, and in a practical project designing the patio for the Provincial Council. His youth was spent supporting nationalist groups such as the Catalan Society of Scientific Excursions (dedicated to visiting the historic monuments of the region) and living the life of high society.

The Barcelona in which Gaudí began his career was the ideal climate for a young artist to flourish, with a booming textiles industry whose subsequent upper class leaders desired the fashionable company of the artistic, academia and famous, and Gaudí was able to take advantage of the many opportunities afforded him such an atmosphere afforded him. His greatest patron was Eusebi Guell, who took an interest in the young architect after examples of his work were displayed at the Paris World Fair. Gaudí was to build various edifices for the family such as the Palua Guell, the Parc Guell and the Colonia Guell, and Guell’s influence was to prove crucial in attracting other rich Catalans to take on Gaudí for their own projects, resulting in the famous Casa Batlló, whose bone-like structure and roof ressembling dragon scales in keeping with Catalan symbology attracted the attention and admiration of the local populace, and the Pedrera, that draws its influence for the iconic, flowing balconies from the natural movement of water.

Gaudí’s work on his most famous project, however, began in 1883 when he took over the design and construction of the Sagrada Familia. He was to oversee the project for 43 years until his death and this became his greatest obsession. Gaudí had been religious since his early years spent as a pupil at a religious school and the church was to be his greatest expression of his faith. As a building it is steeped in both religious and nationalist symbology; with three facades to represent the Nativity, the Passion and the Resurrection; eighteen towers for the twelve apostles, four evangelists, the Virgin Mary and for Christ himself; seven chapels for the seven pains and seven sins of St Joseph; and Dragons throughout to represent St George, the patron saint of Catalonia. The edifice became an obsession for Gaudí, who eventually sold all his possessions and even his house to contribute money towards its construction.

Gaudí’s last years were spent in relative squalor when economic difficulties threatened to halt the construction of Sagrada Familia and forced him to donate all his money to the project. He became increasingly introverted and isolated and his popularity with the media and local populace began to wane. He died on June 10^th 1926, three days after he being knocked down by a tram. This accident served as proof of Gaudí’s loss of media attention, since taxi drivers refused to transport an apparent vagabond to hospital and he was taken to a hospital for the poor as no one recognised the famous architect. Nevertheless, his death was marked by the wearing of black by half of Barcelona to pay homage to the great man, and he was laid to rest in the Crypt of his beloved church.

Chris