Gaudí’s childhood. The observation of Nature.
The son of Francesc
Gaudí i Serra, a boilermaker,
and Antonia Cornet i Bertran, Antoni Plàcid Guillem Gaudí i Cornet, was
born on a hot 25th of June 1852 in Reus (Tarragona).
Gaudí spent
his childhood between Reus, where his parents had their business, and
the countryside, in a small cottage owned by his mother known as Mas de
la Calderera – the Boilermaker’s house – as his mother’s family had also
been involved in that craft. Frequent contact with nature may have been
one of the factors that stimulated two of the abilities which were to
become crucial in the development of his work: the observation and
meticulous analysis of the natural world.
Adolescence. The awakening of a genius.
Antoni Gaudí was a pupil at the Piarist School in
Reus, where he stood out on account of his gift for analysing and
rationalising questions. During his adolescence,
Gaudí formed
a strong friendship with two of his fellow pupils: Eduard Toda and
Josep Ribera. The three young men were enthusiastic about nature and
interested in history, and were very fond of going on excursions. On one
of these outings, Josep Ribera brought his friends to an abandoned
building that he had discovered: the ruins of the Santa María de Poblet
monastery. The three youths made a resolution to restore the ancient
building. Of that enthusiastic youthful project, all that remains is a
floor plan drawn by
Gaudí, who must have been about 15 at the time, and a note written by his companions. For
Gaudí, that experience was undoubtedly the declaration of his vocation as an architect.
University. The discovery of architecture.
A short time afterwards,
Gaudí moved to Barcelona to
study the final year of his secondary education and to do the
foundation course at the School of Architecture. By that time,
Gaudí had
already distinguished himself as a result of his creative genius and
through a flair for calculus. From early on in his studies, the
brilliant architect was hard at work in the studios of eminent
professors and masters of the craft such as Francisco Paula de Villar
and Josep Fontseré. It was in the studio of the latter that
Gaudí achieved
the first recognition of his work: on his own initiative he corrected a
task that had been given to a fellow student – designing the water tank
for the Cascada Fountain in Parc de la Ciutadella.
Gaudí as architect. His first steps.
The year 1878 marked the beginning of
Gaudí’s
intense professional activity. During that year he won a competition
organised by the Barcelona City Council for his design and production of
some street lamps (located in two squares, Plaça Reial and Pla de
Palau), he was awarded a commission for Casa Vicens, his first important
work, and he drew up preliminary plans for an industrial complex with
residential quarters for the Obrera Mataronense workers’ cooperative.
This was an important time for
Gaudí. It was a period
of research and hard work in which he learned to use the tools which
would enable him to create his works of great genius in the years to
come.
A decisive meeting: Eusebi Güell.
However, if
Gaudí had one key commission in 1878, it
was without a doubt the design of a small display stand for the Spanish
Pavilion at the International Exhibition in Paris that same year. One
of the visitors to the exhibition hall, Mr. Eusebi Güell i Bacigalupi,
was so impressed by the originality of the stand that he asked to be put
in contact with its creator. This marked the beginning of both a
professional relationship and a close friendship between them that would
last for 40 years. From that point onwards, Güell was his best client.
Gaudí designed
and built magnificent works for him, with painstaking attention to even
the smallest details, which contributed to expanding his genius and his
originality as an architect.
The development and consolidation of a genius.
The 1880s was a decade of evolution and transformation, both in the field of architecture and in
Gaudí’s
personal life. His style became more and more individual and bold, and
all things considered he became a successful architect. He worked in
every conceivable category of civil architecture: residential properties
(the Güell Estate and the Güell Palace), decorative houses and halls
(El Capricho in Comillas and the pavilion of the Compañía Transatlántica
at the Cádiz Exhibition), and religious buildings (the Bishop’s Palace
in Astorga, the School of the Teresian Nuns and the Church of the
Sagrada Familia in Barcelona). He dealt with magnates and with
influential church authorities. He both impressed them and learned from
them. In 1900, the Barcelona City Council awarded him the first prize
for the best modernist building in the city: Casa Calvet.
In 1904 that
Gaudí undertook the refurbishment of
Casa Batlló,
on the commission of the textile industrialist Josep Batlló i
Casanovas, in elegant Passeig de Gràcia, on the same stretch of street
as Casa Lleó Morera and Casa Amatller, built by Doménech i Montaner and
Puig i Cadafalch respectively. The difference between the styles of
these three Greats of Catalan Modernism gave rise to the block being
called “La Manzana de la Discordia”, or Block of Discord, a name which
it has kept to this day. It is interesting to note that in
Casa Batlló Gaudí was able to work according to his personal taste, and with total creative freedom. For that very reason,
Casa Batlló
is a showcase of his skills in the use of all kinds of materials:
stone, wood, ceramic tiles, glass and iron, and he played masterfully
with colour and shape. His dealings with Josep Batlló led to his
acquaintance with Mr. Milá, who subsequently commissioned him to design
Casa Milá, where Gaudí used many of the techniques which he had already
tested in building
Casa Batlló.
In 1910 a major exhibition of
Gaudí’s
work opened in the Gran Palais in Paris, and this was the only
exhibition outside of Spain dedicated to the architect during his
lifetime. On the 7th of June 1926 he was knocked down by tram while on
his way to the Church of Sant Felip Neri, before going to the building
site of the Sagrada Familia. He died on the 10th of June in the Hospital
de la Santa Creu. His funeral was held two days later, and was attended
by throngs of his many admirers, disciples and friends.
Historic Gaudí. A contemporary perspective.
Gaudí is the definitive architect associated with
the city, having designed such major works as the Sagrada Familia, the
only cathedral in the world under construction,
Casa Batlló, la Pedrera, Palau Güell, and many more.
Today
Gaudí has
become a world-famous architect, the top name in Catalan architecture.
Over the years, his works have gone from being obscure or even
criticised to achieving international renown and being symbols and icons
of an increasingly global Barcelona. In fact, 2002 was declared the
International Year of
Gaudí in commemoration of the 150th anniversary of his birth.
Gaudí was
an outstanding and unique architect, very much one of a kind; a dreamer
and yet rigorous, he was attracted by concepts which may have seemed
contradictory but which for him were necessarily bound together. He was
at once a craftsman and an artist, the architect of both religious and
civil buildings, very strict when it came to technical details, and
possessed of a creativity which knew no bounds. But above all, he was an
architect who drew his inspiration not only from nature but equally
from historical styles and traditional types of construction. He also
had a surpassing vision: that of creating new forms which would allow
him to experiment and to develop his creative interests.
Many influences - oriental, neoclassical and neo-Mudejar among others – can be seen in his architecture; however
Gaudí mixed
these styles with new solutions and materials such as iron, concrete,
glass and ceramic tiles, materials which could be produced industrially
to bring down the cost. He was also a pioneer of such contemporary
notions as ecology, using recycled materials in his work.
Gaudí broke
away from all previous tradition and created a new language, and
although it contained elements similar to those used by other past or
contemporary movements, it turned these around, reinterpreted them and
took them to new levels. There is no doubt that
Gaudí was
a modernist, perhaps even its greatest exponent. There are even those
who believe that he created a new style in its own right.
Gaudí lived
in an era which was characterised by the intense economic and urban
development of Barcelona, the adoption of technical changes driven by
the industrial revolution, and the dawn of a prosperous Catalan
bourgeoisie who were interested in artistic projects and the restoration
of Catalan values through the movement known as the Renaixença (the
Rebirth). All of these aspects had an influence on
Gaudí, on his ideas and on his methods of working.
His family background clearly also had an impact on his work.
Gaudí was
from a family of boilermakers, and this influenced his understanding of
space and his competence for manual trades. His poor health during
childhood prevented him from going to school, and
Gaudí spent
long periods in the countryside, in the town of Riudoms (Tarragona),
where he passed his days absorbed in the contemplation of nature and
animals. Organic elements always stand out in his architecture.
In professional terms,
Gaudí is
closely linked to Barcelona, the city in which he completed his studies
and which is home to the vast majority of his works. One of his first
important projects was Casa Vicens. At that time, at the beginning of
his career, he also entered into one of the most productive partnerships
in the history of patronage: his relationship with Eusebi Güell, who
also became one of his closest friends.
Gaudí designed
a spectacular display case for the Comella glove manufacturer at the
International Exhibition in Paris. Made of iron, its originality
immediately captivated Güell, who then commissioned
Gaudí to build the entrance to his estate in Pedralbes, Finca Güell, and it was there that Gaudí built his first catenary arch.
After this followed a whole host of commissions, among them Palau Güell, Casa Botines, Casa Calvet, Park Güell, Bellesguard,
Casa Batlló, La Pedrera, and many other buildings.
In
1883 he received the commission to build the Sagrada Familia. Initially
he balanced work on that project alongside various others, but in the
last years of his life he worked exclusively on the church. As his faith
got stronger, so did his dedication to the project, to the point where
he even moved his studio and his home to the church itself.
