Antoni Gaudí

"Gaudi" redirects here. For other uses, see Gaudi (disambiguation).

In this Catalan name, the first or paternal surname is Gaudí and the second or maternal family name is Cornet; both are generally joined by the conjunction "i".

Servant of God Antoni Gaudí
Gaudí in 1878, by Pau Audouard
Born	Antoni Gaudí i Cornet (1852-06-25)25 June 1852 Reus or Riudoms, Catalonia, Spain
Died	10 June 1926(1926-06-10) (aged 73) Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain
Occupation	Architect
Buildings	Sagrada Família Casa Milà Casa Batlló
Projects	Park Güell Church of Colònia Güell
Website	www.sagradafamilia.org/en/ www.parkguell.cat/en/ casabatllo.es/en/
Signature

Antoni Gaudí i Cornet (/ɡaʊˈdi/ gow-DEE, /ˈɡaʊdi/ GOW-dee, Catalan: [ənˈtɔni ɣəwˈði]; 25 June 1852 – 10 June 1926) was a Catalan architect and designer, known as the greatest exponent of Catalan Modernism. Gaudí's works have a sui generis style. Most are located in Barcelona, including his main work, Sagrada Famíliachurch.

Gaudí's work was influenced by his passions in life: architecture, nature, and religion. He considered every detail of his creations. His work combined crafts such as ceramics, stained glass, wrought ironwork forging, and carpentry. He introduced new techniques in the treatment of materials, such as trencadís which used waste ceramic pieces.

Under the influence of neo-Gothic art and Oriental techniques, Gaudí became part of the Modernista movement which peaked in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. His work transcended mainstream Modernisme, culminating in a style inspired by natural forms. Gaudí rarely drew detailed plans of his works, instead preferring to create them as three-dimensional scale models and moulding the details as he conceived them.

Gaudí's work enjoys global popularity and continuing admiration and study. His masterpiece, the still-incomplete Sagrada Família, is the most-visited monument in Spain. Between 1984 and 2005, seven of his works were declared UNESCO World Heritage Sites.

Gaudí's Catholic faith intensified during his life and religious images appear in many of his works. This earned him the nickname "God's Architect". His cause for canonization was opened in the Archdiocese of Barcelona in 2003.

Life

Early years

Gaudí was born on 25 June 1852 in Riudoms or Reus to coppersmith Francesc Gaudí i Serra (1813–1906) and Antònia Cornet i Bertran (1819–1876). He was the youngest of five children, and far outlived the other two who survived to adulthood: Rosa (1844–1879) and Francesc (1851–1876). Gaudí's family originated in the Auvergne region in southern France. One of his ancestors, Joan Gaudí, a hawker, moved to Catalonia in the 17th century; possible origins of Gaudí's family name include Gaudy or Gaudin.

El Mas de la Calderera, home of the Gaudí family in Riudoms

Gaudí's exact birthplace is unknown absent supporting documents, leading to a controversy about whether he was born in Reus or Riudoms, two neighbouring municipalities of the Baix Camp district. Most of Gaudí's identification documents gave Reus as his birthplace. Gaudí stated on various occasions that he was born in Riudoms, his paternal family's village. Gaudí was baptised in the church of Sant Pere Apòstol in Reus the day after his birth under the name "Antoni Plàcid Guillem Gaudí i Cornet".

Gaudí had a deep appreciation for his native land and great pride in his Mediterranean heritage for his art. He believed Mediterranean people to be endowed with creativity, originality and an innate sense for art and design. Gaudí reportedly described this distinction by stating, "We own the image. Fantasy comes from the ghosts. Fantasy is what people in the North own. We are concrete. The image comes from the Mediterranean. Orestes knows his way, where Hamlet is torn apart by his doubts." Time spent outdoors, particularly during summer stays in the Gaudí family home Mas de la Calderera, afforded Gaudí the opportunity to study nature. Gaudí's enjoyment of the natural world led him to join the Centre Excursionista de Catalunya in 1879 at age 27. The organisation arranged expeditions to explore Catalonia and southern France, often on horseback or on foot, covering ten kilometres a day.

Gaudí (in the background) with his father (centre), his niece Rosa and doctor Santaló during a visit to Montserrat (1904)

Young Gaudí suffered from poor health, including rheumatism, which may have contributed to his reticent and reserved character. These health concerns and the hygienist theories of Kneipp contributed to Gaudí's early decision to adopt vegetarianism. His religious faith and strict vegetarianism led him to undertake lengthy and severe fasts. These fasts were often unhealthy and occasionally, as in 1894, led to life-threatening illness.

Schooling and later studies

Gaudí attended a nursery school run by Francesc Berenguer, whose son, also called Francesc, later became one of Gaudí's main assistants. He enrolled in the Piarists school in Reus where he displayed artistic talent via drawings for a seminar called El Arlequín (the Harlequin). During this time, he worked as an apprentice in the Vapor Nou textile mill in Reus. In 1868, he moved to Barcelona to study teaching in the Convent del Carme. As an adolescent, Gaudí became interested in utopian socialism and, together with his fellow students Eduard Toda i Güell and Josep Ribera i Sans, planned a restoration of the Poblet Monastery that would have transformed it into a Utopian phalanstère.

Between 1875 and 1878, Gaudí completed his compulsory military service in the infantry regiment in Barcelona as a Military Administrator. Most of his service was spent on sick leave, enabling him to continue his studies. His poor health kept him from having to fight in the Third Carlist War, which lasted from 1872 to 1876. In 1876, Gaudí's mother died at age 57, as did his 25-year-old brother Francesc, who had just graduated as a physician. During this time Gaudí studied architecture at the Llotja School and the Barcelona Higher School of Architecture, graduating in 1878. To finance his studies, Gaudí worked as a draughtsman for various architects and constructors such as Leandre Serrallach, Joan Martorell, Emili Sala Cortés, Francisco de Paula del Villar y Lozano and Josep Fontserè. In addition to his architecture classes, he studied French, history, economics, philosophy, and aesthetics. His grades were average and he occasionally failed courses. When handing him his degree, Elies Rogent, director of Barcelona Architecture School, said: "We have given this academic title either to a fool or a genius. Time will show." Gaudí, when receiving his degree, reportedly told his friend, the sculptor Llorenç Matamala, with his ironical sense of humour, "Llorenç, they're saying I'm an architect now.

Adulthood and professional work

Gaudí and Eusebi Güell on a visit to the Colònia Güell (1910)

Gaudí's first projects were the lampposts he designed for the Plaça Reial in Barcelona, the unfinished Girossi newsstands, and the Cooperativa Obrera Mataronense (Workers' Cooperative of Mataró) building. He gained wider recognition for his first important commission, the Casa Vicens, and subsequently received more significant proposals. At the Paris World's Fair of 1878, Gaudí displayed a showcase he had produced for the glove manufacturer Comella. Its functional and aesthetic modernista design impressed Catalan industrialist Eusebi Güell, who then commissioned some of Gaudí's most outstanding work: the Güell wine cellars, the Güell pavilions, the Palau Güell (Güell palace), the Park Güell (Güell park) and the crypt of the church of the Colònia Güell. Gaudí also became a friend of the marquis of Comillas, the father-in-law of Count Güell, for whom he designed "El Capricho" in Comillas.

In 1883 Gaudí was put in charge of the recently initiated project to build a Barcelona church called Basílica i Temple Expiatori de la Sagrada Família (Basilica and Expiatory Church of the Holy Family, or Sagrada Família). Gaudí completely changed the initial design and imbued it with his own distinctive style. From 1915 until his death, he devoted himself entirely to this project. Given the number of commissions he began receiving, he had to rely on his team to work on multiple projects simultaneously. His team consisted of professionals from all fields of construction. Several of the architects who worked under him became prominent in the field later on, such as Josep Maria Jujol, Joan Rubió, Cèsar Martinell, Francesc Folguera, and Josep Francesc Ràfols. In 1885, Gaudí moved to rural Sant Feliu de Codines to escape the cholera epidemic that was ravaging Barcelona. He lived in Francesc Ullar's house, for whom he designed a dinner table in gratitude.

Gaudí's exposition licence at the Exposición Universal de Barcelona, 1888

The 1888 World Fair was one of the era's major events in Barcelona and represented a key point in the history of the Modernisme movement. Leading architects displayed their best works, including Gaudí, who showcased the building he had designed for the Compañía Trasatlántica (Transatlantic Company). Consequently, he received a commission to restructure the Saló de Cent of the Barcelona City Council, but this project was not constructed. In the early 1890s, Gaudí received two commissions from outside of Catalonia, namely the Episcopal Palace, Astorga, and the Casa Botines in León. These works contributed to Gaudí's growing renown across Spain. In 1891, he travelled to Málaga and Tangiers to examine the site for a project for the Franciscan Catholic Missions that the 2nd marquis of Comillas had requested him to design.

Roof architecture at Casa Batlló

In 1899 Gaudí joined the Cercle Artístic de Sant Lluc (Saint Luke artistic circle), a Catholic artistic society founded in 1893 by the bishop Josep Torras i Bages and the brothers Josep and Joan Llimona. He also joined the Lliga Espiritual de la Mare de Déu de Montserrat (spiritual league of Our lady of Montserrat), another Catholic Catalan organisation. The conservative and religious character of his political thought was closely linked to his defence of the cultural identity of the Catalan people.

At the beginning of the century, Gaudí was working on numerous projects simultaneously. They reflected his shift to a more personal style inspired by nature. In 1900, he received an award for the best building of the year from the Barcelona City Council for his Casa Calvet. During the first decade of the century Gaudí dedicated himself to projects like the Casa Figueras (Figueras house, better known as Bellesguard), the Park Güell, an unsuccessful urbanisation project, and the restoration of the Cathedral of Palma de Mallorca, for which he visited Mallorca several times. Between 1904 and 1910 he constructed the Casa Batlló (Batlló house) and the Casa Milà (Milá house), two of his most emblematic works.

Saint Philip Neri celebrating the Holy Mass by Joan Llimona (church of Sant Felip Neri, Barcelona). Gaudí was the model for Saint Philip Neri's face.

As a result of Gaudí's increasing fame, in 1902 the painter Joan Llimona chose Gaudí's features to represent Saint Philip Neri in the paintings for the aisle of the Sant Felip Neri church in Barcelona. Together with Joan Santaló, son of his friend the physician Pere Santaló, he unsuccessfully founded a wrought iron manufacturing company the same year.

After moving to Barcelona, Gaudí frequently changed his address: as a student he lived in residences, generally in the area of the Gothic Quarter; when he started his career he moved among rented flats in the Eixample area. Finally, in 1906, he settled in the house in Güell Park that he owned and which had been constructed by his assistant Francesc Berenguer as a showcase property for the estate. It has since become the Gaudí Museum. There he lived with his father (who died in 1906 at the age of 93) and his niece Rosa Egea Gaudí (who died in 1912 at age 36). He lived in the house until 1925, several months before his death, when he began residing inside the workshop of the Sagrada Família.

Tragic Week in 1909 had a profound impact on Gaudí's personality. Gaudí remained in his house in Güell Park during this turbulent period. The anticlerical atmosphere and attacks on churches and convents caused Gaudí to worry for the safety of the Sagrada Família, but the building escaped damage.

In 1910, an exhibition in the Grand Palais of Paris was devoted to his work, during the annual salon of the Société des Beaux-Arts (Fine Arts Society) of France. Gaudí participated on the invitation of count Güell, displaying a series of pictures, plans and plaster scale models of several of his works. Although he participated hors concours, he received good reviews from the French press. A large part of this exposition could be seen the following year at the I Salón Nacional de Arquitectura that took place in the municipal exhibition hall of El Buen Retiro in Madrid.

During the Paris exposition in May 1910, Gaudí spent a holiday in Vic, where he designed two basalt lampposts and wrought iron for the Plaça Major of Vic in honor of Jaume Balmes's centenary. The following year he resided as a convalescent in Puigcerdà while suffering from tuberculosis. During this time he conceived the idea for the façade of the Passion of the Sagrada Família.{rp|166}} Due to ill health he prepared a will at the office of the notary Ramon Cantó i Figueres on 9 June, but later recovered.

The decade from 1910 was hard for Gaudí. During this decade, the architect experienced the deaths of his niece Rosa in 1912 and his main collaborator Francesc Berenguer in 1914; a severe economic crisis which paralysed work on the Sagrada Família in 1915; the 1916 death of his friend Josep Torras i Bages, bishop of Vic; the 1917 disruption of work at the Colonia Güell; and the 1918 death of his friend and patron Eusebi Güell. Perhaps because of these tragedies he devoted himself entirely to the Sagrada Família from 1915, taking refuge in his work. Gaudí confessed to his collaborators:

My good friends are dead; I have no family and no clients, no fortune nor anything. Now I can dedicate myself entirely to the Church.

Gaudí dedicated the last years of his life entirely to the "Cathedral of the Poor", as it was commonly known, for which he took alms in order to continue. Apart from his dedication to this cause, he participated in few other activities, the majority of which were related to his Catholic faith: in 1916 he participated in a course about Gregorian chant at the Palau de la Música Catalana taught by the Benedictine monk Gregori M. Sunyol.

Personal life

Gaudí devoted his life entirely to his profession, remaining single. He is known to have been attracted to only one woman—Josefa Moreu, teacher at the Mataró Cooperative, in 1884—but this was not reciprocated. Thereafter Gaudí took refuge in his Catholic faith. Gaudí is often depicted as unsociable and unpleasant, a man of gruff reactions and arrogant gestures. However, those who were close to him described him as friendly and polite, pleasant to talk to and faithful to friends. Among these, his patrons Eusebi Güell and the bishop of Vic, Josep Torras i Bages, stand out, as well as the writers Joan Maragall and Jacint Verdaguer, the physician Pere Santaló and some of his most faithful collaborators, such as Francesc Berenguer and Llorenç Matamala.

Gaudí shows the Sagrada Família to the Papal nuncio, Cardinal Francesco Ragonesi (1915). On that occasion, Monsegnor Ragonesi considered Gaudí "The Dante of architecture".

Gaudí's personal appearance—Mediterranean features, dark hair and hazel eyes—changed radically over the course of time. As a young man, he dressed like a dandy in costly suits, sporting well-groomed hair and beard, indulging gourmet taste, making frequent visits to the theatre and the opera and visiting his project sites in a horse carriage. The older Gaudí ate frugally, dressed in old, worn-out suits, and neglected his appearance to the extent that sometimes he was taken for a beggar, such as after the accident that caused his death.

Gaudí left hardly any written documents, apart from technical reports of his works required by official authorities, some letters to friends (particularly to Joan Maragall) and a few journal articles. Some quotes collected by his assistants and disciples have been preserved, above all by Josep Francesc Ràfols, Joan Bergós, Cèsar Martinell and Isidre Puig i Boada. The only written document Gaudí left is known as the Manuscrito de Reus (Reus Manuscript) (1873–1878), a kind of student diary in which he collected diverse impressions of architecture and decorating, putting forward his ideas on the subject. Included are an analysis of the Christian church and of his ancestral home, as well as a text about ornamentation and comments on the design of a desk.

Catalan identity

Gaudí was a proponent of Catalan culture but was not politically active. He refused suggestions by politicians such as Francesc Cambó and Enric Prat de la Riba that he run for deputy. His Catalan identity was less political and more geared towards art, history, culture, and language.

Gaudí had a deep attachment to his native Catalan language. When King of Spain Alfonso XIII visited the Sagrada Familia, Gaudí spoke to him only in Catalan. Gaudí also refused to speak Spanish with Prime Minister Antonio Maura, who, as a native of Mallorca and therefore Catalan-speaking, responded to Gaudí in Catalan, thus breaking protocol in front of the King. Similarly, when philosopher Miguel de Unamuno visited the Sagrada Família, poet Joan Maragall had to translate Gaudí's Catalan tour into Spanish.Gaudí also spoke Catalan in public, although it had been declared illegal by Primo de Rivera, who tried to suppress Catalan culture.

A fountain in Park Güell depicting a snake and the Catalan coat of arms, a common symbol in Gaudí's works

In 1920 he was beaten by police in a riot during the Floral Games celebrations, a Catalan culture celebration. On 11 September 1924, National Day of Catalonia, he was beaten at a demonstration against the Catalan language ban. He was arrested by the Civil Guard as he traveled to the church of Sant Just i Sant Pastor to attend a mass in memory of Catalonian patriots. Gaudí refused to speak Spanish and kept responding in Catalan, stating that "My profession obliges me to pay my taxes, and I pay them, but not to stop speaking my own language." He was then taken to prison, and was released after paying 50 pesetas bail.

Gaudí incorporated elements of Catalan culture in his works. Gaudí was part of the Catalan Renaissance (Renaixença in Catalan), a romantic revivalist and cultural movement that aimed at restoring Catalan language and arts combined with an anti-Castilian political "Catalanism". Park Güell, which was commissioned by Catalan patriot Eusebi Güell, was envisioned by Gaudí as a focus of Catalan nationalism and cultural aspirations. Gaudí inserted numerous Catalan motifs in the park, such as a large mosaic with the Catalan flag or the representations of dragons, which were seen as Catalan symbols during the Renaixença because of their connection to Catalan patron saint George. The Park hosted the First Congress of the Catalan Language during construction. Casa Batlló, which is considered among Gaudí's finest works, is known as "House of the Dragon" due to its Georgian symbolism. Sagrada Familia is decorated with many words and writings, such as on the towers and doors, and are mainly in Catalan, such as the Lord's Prayer in Catalan on the main doors.{ The Palau Güell's entrance is decorated with the Catalan coat of arms and a helmet with a winged dragon. His project for Barcelona's Muralla de Mar featured shields and names of battles and Catalan admirals. The Torre Bellesguard (1900–1909), former summer palace of King Martin I the Humane, was restored by Gaudí and its spire decorated the Catalan flag and the royal crown. He designed a project (not completed) to crown El Cavall Bernat (a mountain peak) with a viewpoint in the shape of a royal crown and a 20 metres (66 ft) high Catalan coat of arms. The Catalan flag was also present in a banner designed for Our Lady of Mercy of Reus and a monument (not completed) to Catalan politician Enric Prat de la Riba in Castellterçol. Even before he became an architect, he was interested in the history of medieval Catalonia, when it was important in Mediterranean politics and history.}} He joined several Catalan associations, such as Cercle Artístic de Sant Lluc, Lliga Espiritual de la Mare de Déu de Montserrat, Associació Catalanista d'Excursions Científiques.}} The latter was a group dedicated to preserving and celebrating Catalan art, landscape, culture, and language.

Death

Gaudí's funeral (12 June 1926)

On 7 June 1926, Gaudí took his daily walk to the Sant Felip Neri church for his habitual prayer and confession. While walking along the Gran Via de les Corts Catalanes between Girona and Bailén streets, he was struck by a passing number 30 tram and lost consciousness. Assumed to be a beggar, the unconscious Gaudí did not receive immediate aid. Eventually passers-by transported him in a taxi to the Santa Creu Hospital, where he received rudimentary care.

By the time that the chaplain of the Sagrada Família, Mosén Gil Parés, recognised him on the following day, Gaudí's condition had deteriorated too severely to benefit from additional treatment. Gaudí died on 10 June 1926 at age 73. A large crowd gathered to bid farewell in the chapel of Our Lady of Mount Carmel in the crypt of the Sagrada Família. His gravestone bears this inscription:

Antonius Gaudí Cornet. Reusensis. Annos natus LXXIV, vitae exemplaris vir, eximiusque artifex, mirabilis operis hujus, templi auctor, pie obiit Barcinone die X Junii MCMXXVI, hinc cineres tanti hominis, resurrectionem mortuorum expectant. R.I.P.

(Antoni Gaudí Cornet. From Reus. At the age of 74, a man of exemplary life, and an extraordinary craftsman, the author of this marvelous work, the church, died piously in Barcelona on the tenth day of June 1926; henceforward the ashes of so great a man await the resurrection of the dead. May he rest in peace.)

Style

Early work

Traditional Gothic cross flower reinterpreted, one of the most typical features of Gaudí's works

Gaudí's professional life continually investigated mechanical building structures. Early on, Gaudí was inspired by oriental arts (India, Persia, Japan) through the study of the historicist architectural theoreticians, such as Walter Pater, John Ruskin, and William Morris. The influence of the Oriental movement can be seen in works like the Capricho, the Güell Palace, the Güell Pavilions and the Casa Vicens.

As a student, Gaudí studied a collection of photographs of Egyptian, Indian, Persian, Mayan, Chinese and Japanese art owned by the School of Architecture. The collection also included Moorish monuments in Spain, which inspired many of his early works. He studied the book Plans, elevations, sections and details of the Alhambra by Owen Jones. He took various structural and ornamental solutions from Nasrid and Mudéjar art, which he used with variations and stylistic freedom. Notably, Gaudí observed of Islamic art its spatial uncertainty, its concept of structures with limitless space; its feeling of sequence, fragmented with holes and partitions, which create a divide without disrupting the feeling of open space by enclosing it with barriers.

Gothic revival

The Gothic Revival most influenced him, promoted in the latter half of the 19th century by the theoretical works of Eugène Viollet-le-Duc. The French architect called for studying the styles of the past and adapting them in a rational manner, taking into account both structure and design. This influence is reflected in the Teresian College, the Episcopal Palace in Astorga, the Casa Botines and the Bellesguard house as well as in the crypt and the apse of the Sagrada Família.

Nonetheless, for Gaudí the Gothic style was "imperfect", because despite the effectiveness of some of its structural solutions it was an art that had yet to be "perfected". In his own words:

Gothic art is imperfect, only half resolved; it is a style created by the compasses, a formulaic industrial repetition. Its stability depends on constant propping up by the buttresses: it is a defective body held up on crutches. ... The proof that Gothic works are of deficient plasticity is that they produce their greatest emotional effect when they are mutilated, covered in ivy and lit by the moon.

Modernisme

The salamander in Park Güell has become a symbol of Gaudí's work.

After these initial influences, Gaudí moved towards Modernisme, then in its heyday. Modernisme in its earlier stages was inspired by historic architecture. Its practitioners saw its return to the past as a response to the industrial forms imposed by the Industrial Revolution's technological advances. The use of these older styles represented a moral regeneration that allowed the bourgeoisie to identify with values they regarded as their cultural roots. The Renaixença (rebirth), the revival of Catalan culture that began in the second half of the 19th century, brought more Gothic forms into the Catalan "national" style that aimed to combine nationalism and cosmopolitanism while at the same time integrating into the European modernizing movement.

Essential features of Modernisme included: an anticlassical language inherited from Romanticism with a tendency to lyricism and subjectivity; the determined connection of architecture with the applied arts and artistic work, yielding an overtly ornamental style; the use of new materials, rich in contrasts, that sought a plastic effect for the whole; a strong sense of optimism and faith in progress that reflected the atmosphere of prosperity of the time, a bourgeois esthetic.

Quest for a new architectural language

Gaudí is usually considered the great master of Catalan Modernism, but his works find their main inspiration in geometry and from nature. Gaudí studied natural and anarchic geometric forms, searching for a way to give expression to these forms in architecture. Some of his inspirations came from visits to the mountain of Montserrat, the caves of Mallorca, the saltpetre caves in Collbató, the Fraguerau gorge in the Prades Mountains behind Reus, the Pareis mountain in the north of Mallorca and Sant Miquel del Fai in Bigues i Riells.

Geometrical forms

The nave in the Sagrada Familia with a hyperboloid vault. Inspiration from nature is taken from a tree, as the pillar and branches symbolise trees rising up to the roof.

This study of nature translated into his use of ruled geometrical forms such as the hyperbolic paraboloid, the hyperboloid, the helicoid and the cone, which reflect forms Gaudí found in nature. Ruled surfaces are forms generated by a straight line known as the generatrix, as it moves over one or several lines known as directrices. Gaudí found abundant examples of them in nature, for instance in rushes, reeds and bones; he said that no better structure exists than the trunk of a tree or a human skeleton. These forms are both functional and aesthetic, and Gaudí adapted nature to the structural needs of architecture. He used to equate the helicoid form to movement and the hyperboloid to light. Concerning ruled surfaces, he said:

{{blockquote|text=Paraboloids, hyperboloids and helicoids, constantly varying the incidence of the light, are rich in matrices themselves, which make ornamentation and even modelling unnecessary.

Another element widely used by Gaudí was the catenary arch. He had studied geometry when he was young, absorbing numerous articles about engineering, a field that praised the catenary curve as a mechanical element, although at that time they were used only in the construction of suspension bridges. Gaudí was the first to use this element in common architecture. Catenary arches in works like the Casa Milà, the Teresian College, the crypt of the Colònia Güell and the Sagrada Família allowed Gaudí to add strength to his structures, given that the catenary distributes weight evenly, affected only by self-canceling tangential forces.

The same year Gaudí was consulted about the construction of a monumental train station for Barcelona (the future Estació de França). Gaudí suggested an iron structure in the form of a large suspended awning, a solution quite ahead of its time; perhaps for this reason, it put the head engineers off, and they declined Gaudí's offer. The last known projects by the architect are the chapel for the Colónia Calvet in Torelló, of 1923, and a pulpit for Valencia (the exact location is unknown), of 1924. From then on, Gaudí worked exclusively on the Sagrada Família until his death.

Collaborators

The enormous task which Gaudí faced, not in terms of the number of works, but in terms of their complexity, required the collaboration of a large number of assistants, artists, architects and craftsmen. Gaudí always led the way, but allowed expression of the individual abilities of all of his collaborators. A test of his expertise both in his field and in interpersonal communication was demonstrated in bringing together a large number of diverse professionals and creating an integrated team.

Among his collaborators were:

• Architects: Francesc Berenguer, Josep Maria Jujol, Cristòfor Cascante i Colom, Josep Francesc Ràfols, Cèsar Martinell, Joan Bergós, Francesc Folguera, Josep Canaleta, Joan Rubió, Domènec Sugrañes, Francesc Quintana, Isidre Puig i Boada, Lluís Bonet i Garí.
• Sculptors: Carles Mani, Joan Flotats, Llorenç Matamala, Joan Matamala, Josep Llimona.
• Painters: Ricard Opisso, Aleix Clapés, Iu Pascual, Xavier Nogués, Jaume Llongueras, Joaquín Torres García.
• Builders and foremen: Agustí Massip, Josep Bayó i Font, Claudi Alsina i Bonafont, Josep Pardo i Casanova and his nephew Julià Bardier i Pardo.
• Craftsmen: Eudald Puntí (carpenter and forger), Joan Oñós (forger), Lluís y Josep Badia i Miarnau (forger), Joan Bertran (plasterer), Joan Munné (cabinet maker), Frederic Labòria (cabinet maker), Antoni Rigalt i Blanch (glazier), Josep Pelegrí (glazier), Mario Maragliano (mosaic artist), Jaume Pujol i Bausis and his son Pau Pujol i Vilà (ceramicists).

Death and legacy

Aerial view towards La Sagrada Familia, Barcelona, Spain

Gaudí was run down by a tram, and died on 10 June 1926. He is buried in the Sagrada Familia. After his death, Gaudí's works suffered a period of neglect and were largely unpopular among international critics, who regarded them as baroque and excessively imaginative. In his homeland he was equally disdained by Noucentisme, the new movement which took the place of Modernisme. In 1936, during the Spanish Civil War, Gaudí's workshop in the Sagrada Família was ransacked, and a great number of his documents, plans and scale models were destroyed.

Gaudí's reputation was beginning to recover by the 1950s, when his work was championed not only by Salvador Dalí but also by architect Josep Lluís Sert. In 1952, the centenary year of the architect's birth, the Asociación de Amigos de Gaudí (Friends of Gaudí Association) was founded with the aim of disseminating and conserving his legacy. Four years later, a retrospective was organised at the Saló del Tinell in Barcelona, and the Gaudí Chair at the Polytechnic University of Catalonia was created with the purpose of deepening the study of Gaudí's works and participating in their conservation. These events were followed in 1957 by Gaudí's first international exhibition, held at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City. In 1976, on the 50th anniversary of his death, the Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs organised an exhibition about Gaudí and his works that toured the globe.

Between 1950 and 1960, research and writings by international critics like George R. Collins, Nikolaus Pevsner and Roberto Pane spread a renewed awareness of Gaudí's work, while in his homeland it was admired and promoted by Alexandre Cirici, Juan Eduardo Cirlot and Oriol Bohigas. Gaudí's work has since gained widespread international appreciation, such as in Japan where notable studies have been published by Hiroya Tanaka, Kenji Imai and Tokutoshi Torii. International recognition of Gaudí's contributions to the field of architecture and design culminated in the 1984 listing of Gaudí's key works as UNESCO World Heritage Sites. Gaudí's style have subsequently influenced contemporary architects such as Santiago Calatrava and Norman Foster.

Gaudí was the subject of the 1984 documentary Antonio Gaudi.

Due to Gaudí's profoundly religious and ascetic lifestyle, the archbishop of Barcelona, Ricard Maria Carles proposed Gaudí's beatification in 1998. In 1999, American composer Christopher Rouse wrote the guitar concerto Concert de Gaudí, which was inspired by Gaudí's work; it went on to win the 2002 Grammy Award for Best Classical Contemporary Composition. On the occasion of the 150th anniversary of Gaudí's birth, a number of official ceremonies, concerts, shows and conferences were held, and several books were published. On 24 September of the same year, the musical Gaudí had its premiere in the Palau dels Esports de Barcelona. The authors of the piece were Jordi Galceran, Esteve Miralles and Albert Guinovart. In 2008 the Gaudí Awards were launched in his honour, organised by the Catalan Film Academy to award the best Catalan films of the year. An Iberia Airbus A340-642, EC-INO is named after Gaudí.

Japanese manga artist Takehiko Inoue wrote and illustrated a travel memoir on the life and architecture of Gaudí, titled Pepita: Takehiko Inoue Meets Gaudí and published in 2013.

Each year, since 2013, on 10 June, the day when Gaudí died, the World Art Nouveau Day is celebrated.

World Heritage

Several of Gaudí's works have been granted World Heritage status by UNESCO: in 1984 the Park Güell, the Palau Güell and the Casa Milà; and in 2005 the Nativity façade, the crypt and the apse of the Sagrada Família, the Casa Vicens and the Casa Batlló in Barcelona, together with the crypt of the Colònia Güell in Santa Coloma de Cervelló.

The declaration of Gaudí's works as World Heritage aims to recognise his outstanding universal value. According to the citation:

• The work of Antoni Gaudí represents an exceptional and outstanding creative contribution to the development of architecture and building technology in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
• Gaudí's work exhibits an important interchange of values closely associated with the cultural and artistic currents of his time, as represented in el Modernisme [sic] of Catalonia. It anticipated and influenced many of the forms and techniques that were relevant to the development of modern construction in the 20th century.
• Gaudí's work represents a series of outstanding examples of the building typology in the architecture of the early 20th century, residential as well as public, to the development of which he made a significant and creative contribution.

Canonization cause

A sainthood guild interested in canonization for Gaudí began their efforts in earnest in 1992. By 2003, the cause was officially opened by the bishops of Catalonia, occasioning for Gaudí the title "Servant of God".

See also

• List of Gaudí buildings
• Gaudí House Museum
• Altarpiece of Alella

References

• "Beatificación de Gaudí". User AGS at CTV.es (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 27 September 2011. Retrieved 3 August 2008.
• Bergós, Juan; Bassegoda i Nonell, Joan; Crippa, Maria Antonietta; Llimargas i Casas, Marc (1999). Gaudí, l'home i l'obra [Gaudí, the home and the work] (in Catalan). Barcelona: Círculo de Lectores. ISBN 978-84-9785-783-3. OCLC 807546624.
• Bonet i Armengol, Jordi (2001). L'últim Gaudí: el modulat geomètric del Temple de la Sagrada Família (in Catalan) (2nd ed.). Barcelona: Pòrtic. ISBN 978-84-7306-727-0.
• Castellar-Gassol, Juan (1999). Gaudí, la vida d'un visionari (in Catalan). Barcelona: Edicions de 1984. ISBN 978-84-86540-54-8.
• Fidgen, Jo; Kremer, William (10 May 2015). "Will Gaudi be made a saint?". BBC News. Retrieved 25 December 2021.
• "Gaudí's Political and Patriotic Sentiment". GaudiAllGaudi.com. 27 January 2022. Retrieved 12 February 2022.
• "El mobiliario de Gaudí" [Gaudi's furniture]. Gaudiclub.com (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 26 September 2011. Retrieved 3 August 2008.
• Inoue, Takehiko (2013). Pepita : Inoue Meets Gaudí. Emi Louie-Nishikawa, Yukiko Whitley, Nick Mamatas, Masumi Washington. San Francisco, CA: VIZ Media LLC. ISBN 978-1-4215-5274-3. OCLC 806014062.
• Massó Carballido, Jaume (2013). "Gaudí's World – Gaudí and Reus". Gaudí Centre Reus. Archived from the original on 19 October 2013. Retrieved 25 July 2014.
• Müller, Frederike; Wendt, Lars (Directors) (2006). The Architect Antoni Gaudí. Myth and Reality (DVD) (in German). Germany: WendtFilm & Ciné Canard.
• Pun, Sharon; Li, Oasis (8 June 2018). "Gaudí's Barcelona". The Young Reporter. Retrieved 11 February 2022.
• Ramón-Cortés, Sílvia; Borderías, Sílvia (24 November 2008). "Presentation of the Gaudí Awards of Cinema" (PDF). Academy of Catalan Cinema. Archived from the original (PDF) on 12 August 2013. Retrieved 16 October 2011.
• Sheridan, Molly (28 February 2002). "A Rousing Night at the Grammy Awards". NewMusicBox. Archived from the original on 15 September 2015. Retrieved 7 June 2015.
• Tarragona, Josep María (2011). Antoni Gaudí, un arquitecto genial [Antoni Gaudí – a great architect] (in Spanish). Barcelona: Casals. ISBN 978-84-218-2430-6.
• "Gaudi Mania". Time. 11 March 2002. Archived from the original on 14 November 2010. Retrieved 18 December 2011.
• "World Heritage: Works of Antoni Gaudí". UNESCO. 2 November 1984. Archived from the original on 6 October 2011. Retrieved 25 August 2008.
• "8th Session of the UNESCO World Heritage Committee". UNESCO. 2 November 1984. Archived from the original on 21 October 2011. Retrieved 3 August 2008.
• "29th Session of the UNESCO World Heritage Committee" (PDF). UNESCO. 9 September 2005. Archived (PDF) from the original on 6 September 2011. Retrieved 3 August 2008.

Further reading

• Giordano, Carlos (2007). Gómez Gimeno, Mária José (ed.). Templo expiatorio de La Sagrada Familia: la obra maestra de Antoni Gaudí [Expiatory Temple of La Sagrada Familia: the masterpiece of Antoni Gaudí] (in Spanish). Barcelona: Mundo Flip.
• Giralt-Miracle, Daniel, ed. (2002). "Art, oficis i disseny en Gaudí". Gaudí 2002. Misceŀlània [Art, offices and design in Gaudí] (in Catalan). Barcelona: Planeta. ISBN 978-84-08-04332-4.
• Hereu, Pere. "Els Anys d'aprenentatge de Gaudi" [The Learning Years of Gaudi]. www.worldcat.org. Retrieved 27 December 2022.
• Martinell, Cèsar (1967). Gaudí, Su vida, su teoría, su obra [Gaudí, His life, his theory, his work] (in Spanish). Barcelona: Colegio de Arquitectos de Cataluña y Baleares. Comisión de Cultura.
• Puig i Tàrrech, Armand (2010). La Sagrada Família segons Gaudí: comprendre un símbol [The Sagrada Familia according to Gaudí: understanding a symbol] (in Catalan). Barcelona: Pòrtic.
• Wagensberg, Jorge, ed. (2002). "Apunts sobre la intuïció científica de Gaudí". Gaudí 2002. Misceŀlània [Notes on Gaudí's scientific intuition] (in Catalan). Barcelona: Planeta. ISBN 978-84-08-04332-4. OCLC 51987981.

External links

• Quotations related to Antoni Gaudí at Wikiquote
• Media related to Antoni Gaudí at Wikimedia Commons
• Gaudí's life and works
• Overview of Gaudí's major works
• Sagrada Família information and discussion of lesser-known Gaudí works
• Sagrada Família image gallery
• Casa Batlló information and image gallery
• Analysis of fractals and other mathematical elements in Gaudí's architectural style
• Pàgina del Cercle Artístic de Sant Lluc Archived 23 January 2019 at the Wayback Machine
• Antoni Plàcid Guillem Gaudí i Cornet
• A virtual walk through the Guard House at Park Guell Archived 25 February 2017 at the Wayback Machine