Antoni Gaudí 1 Antoni Gaudí Antoni Gaudí Antoni Gaudí by Pau Audouard [1] [2] Born 25 June 1852Reus, Catalonia, Spain Died 10 June 1926 (aged 73)Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain Work Buildings Sagrada Família, Casa Milà, Casa Batlló Projects Parc Güell, Colònia Güell [3] Antoni Gaudí i Cornet (Catalan pronunciation: [ənˈtɔni ɣəwˈði]) (Riudoms or Reus, 25 June 1852 – Barcelona, 10 June 1926) was a Spanish Catalan architect and the best-known representative of Catalan Modernism. Gaudí's works are marked by a highly individual style and the vast majority of them are situated in the Catalan capital of Barcelona, including his magnum opus, the Sagrada Família. Much of Gaudí's work was marked by the four passions of his life: architecture, nature, religion and his love for Catalonia.[4] Gaudí meticulously studied every detail of his creations, integrating into his architecture a series of crafts, in which he himself was skilled, such as ceramics, stained glass, wrought ironwork forging and carpentry. He also introduced new techniques in the treatment of the materials, such as his famous trencadís, made of waste ceramic pieces. After a few years under the influence of neo-Gothic art, and certain oriental tendencies, Gaudí became part of the Catalan Modernista movement which was then at its peak, towards the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th. Gaudí's work, however, transcended mainstream Modernisme, culminating in an organic style that was inspired by nature without losing the influence of the experiences gained earlier in his career. Rarely did Gaudí draw detailed plans of his works and instead preferred to create them as three-dimensional scale models, moulding all details as he was conceiving them in his mind. Gaudí’s work has widespread international appeal, and there are innumerable studies devoted to his way of understanding architecture. Today he is admired by both professionals and the general public: his masterpiece, the Sagrada Família, is one of the most visited monuments in Spain.[5] Between 1984 and 2005 seven of his works were declared World Heritage Sites by UNESCO. He awakened to his Roman Catholic faith during his life and many religious symbols can be seen in his works, a fact which has led to his being nicknamed "God's Architect"[6] and calls for him to be beatified.[7] [8] Antoni Gaudí 2 Biography Birth, childhood and studies Antoni Gaudí was born in 1852, to the industrial boilermaker Francesc Gaudí i Serra (1813–1906) and Antònia Cornet i Bertran (1819–1876). He was the youngest of five children, of whom three survived to adulthood: Rosa (1844–1879), Francesc (1851–1876) and Antoni. Gaudí’s family origins go back to the Auvergne region in southern France, from where one of his ancestors, Joan Gaudí, a hawker, moved to Catalonia in the 17th century; the origin of his name could be Gaudy or Gaudin.[9] Gaudís exact birthplace is unknown because no El Mas de la Calderera, home of the Gaudí family in Riudoms. documents stating it were kept, leading to a controversy about whether it was Reus or Riudoms (two neighbouring municipalities of the Baix Camp district. In most of Gaudí's identification documents from both his student and professional years, Reus is given as his birthplace. Nonetheless, Gaudí himself stated on various occasions that it was Riudoms, where his paternal family were from.[10] What is known is that he was baptized in the church of Sant Pere Apòstol in Reus the day after his birth. The name that appears on his baptismal certificate is "Antoni Plàcid Guillem Gaudí i Cornet".[11] Gaudí felt a deep appreciation for his native land, and his great sense of pride of being from the Mediterranean is a proof of this. It had a notable influence on his architecture: Gaudí used to say that Mediterranean people have an innate sense for art and design, that they are creative and original, whereas Nordic people are more technical and repetitive. In Gaudí’s words: ”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”.[12] Antoni Gaudí 3 The time spent in his native land helped Gaudí to get to know and study nature profoundly, above all his summer stays in the Mas de la Calderera, home of the Gaudí family in Riudoms. He liked the contact with nature and because of this he later on became a member of the Centre Excursionista de Catalunya (1879), an organisation with which he made numerous trips around Catalonia and southern France. Sometimes, he used to horse-ride, or walked around ten kilometres a day.[13] Young Gaudí was of a sickly nature; he suffered from rheumatism from childhood, which led to his rather reticent and reserved character.[14] This may also have been the reason for his becoming a vegetarian[15] [16] along with Dr. Kneipp’s hygienist theories.[17] Because of these beliefs—and for religious reasons—he sometimes imposed severe fasting on himself. He took this to a point where it became life threatening, such as in 1894, when he fell seriously ill as the result of a lengthy period of fast.[18] Gaudí’s first studies were at the nursery school run by Francesc Gaudí (in the background) with his father (centre), his Berenguer, whose son, also called Francesc, would later become niece Rosa and doctor Santaló during a visit to one of Gaudí’s main assistants. Subsequently, he attended the Montserrat (1904). Piarists school in Reus; his talent for drawing stood out during his participation in the seminar El Arlequín (the Harlequin).[19] He also worked as an apprentice in the “Vapor Nou” textile mill in Reus for some time. In 1868 he moved to Barcelona to study teaching in the Convent del Carme. During his adolescence he was interested in utopian socialism and with his fellow students Eduard Toda i Güell and Josep Ribera i Sans he planned a restoration of the Poblet monastery that would have transformed it into a Utopian phalanstère.[20] Between 1875 and 1878, Gaudí completed his compulsory military service in the Infantry regiment in Barcelona as a Military Administrator. He spent the majority of his service on sick leave, which allowed him to continue his studies. Due to his position he was not forced to fight during the Third Carlist War, which took place during this period.[21] In 1876 his mother died at the age of 57, and so did his brother Francesc, 25, who had only recently graduated as a physician; he never got to practice his profession. Gaudí studied architecture at the Llotja School and the Barcelona Higher School of Architecture, from which he graduated in 1878. Apart from his architecture classes, he attended French lectures and studied history, economics, philosophy and aesthetics. His grades were average, some of them were fails; Gaudí cared more about his own interests than those of the official courses’.[22] 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.”[23] 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.[24] Maybe that was why Gaudí, when receiving his degree, said to his friend the sculptor Llorenç Matamala, with his ironical sense of humour: ”Llorenç, they’re saying I’m an architect now”.[25] Antoni Gaudí 4 Adulthood and professional work 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). He became well known through his first important commission, the Casa Vicens, and subsequently received increasingly more significant requests. At the Paris World Fair in 1878 Gaudí displayed a showcase he had produced for the glove manufacturer Comella. Its modernista design, which was at the same time functional and aesthetic, impressed the Catalan industrialist Eusebi Güell, who later on contacted the architect to request him to carry out various projects he had in mind. This was the starting point of a long friendship and a patronage which bore fruit with some of the most distinguished of Gaudí’s works: the Güell wine cellars, the Güell pavilions, the Palau Güell (Güell Gaudí and Eusebi Güell on a visit to the Colònia Güell palace), the Parc Güell (Güell park) and the crypt of the church of (1910). the Colònia Güell. He 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 accepted responsibility for the recently-initiated works of the Basílica i Temple Expiatori de la Sagrada Família (Basilica and Expiatory Church of the Holy Family, more commonly referred to in English as the Sagrada Família). Gaudí changed the original project completely, making this his world famous and much-admired masterpiece. 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 a professional team to be able to work on various projects simultaneously. His team consisted of professionals from all fields of construction. Several of the architects who worked under him made their own name in the field later on, such as Josep Maria Jujol,Joan Rubió, Cèsar Martinell, Francesc Folguera and Josep Francesc Ràfols.