Antoni Gaudí

Biography of Antoni Gaudí

Antoni Gaudí (June 25, 1852 – June 10, 1926) was an architect from Reus, Catalonia, Spain. He came from a family of coppersmiths, and always enjoyed working with his father and grandfather in their family workshop. He became an expert in making boilers. As a child, Gaudí had delicate health and was forced to spend long periods of time resting, which prevented him from attending school. During this time, he devoted himself to observing his surroundings, particularly nature, which he considered to be his greatest teacher.

When he finished school at an older age than most children, Gaudí moved to Barcelona to study architecture, while working various jobs to pay for his studies. He graduated in 1878. It was clear that the young man’s ideas were original, unconventional, and left his colleagues amazed. The director of the university said that he was a kind of mad and genius.

He started out as a collaborator in the offices of renowned architects of the time, one of them being José Fonseré, with whom he carried out a project. When it was finished, he accepted a solo project from the Mataronense Cooperative, an ambitious complex of which only the factory and a service kiosk were built. In 1883, he was hired as the architect of the expiatory temple of the Sagrada Familia

. The work is considered his main artistic achievement, despite being left unfinished and without a well-defined project. Some years later, he took care of the construction of the crypt and the apse. At the same time, he worked on a civil project for the El Capricho villa and the Vicens house in Gracia for Manuel Vicens.

Antoni Gaudí set up his own office on the street known as the Call in Barcelona. From there, he began his characteristic architectural legacy, much of which is considered a World Heritage Site. In the mid-1878, he met and formed a working alliance and a sincere friendship with the artist Eusebi Güell, a promoter of the national industry with a marked taste for the arts. From that moment on, their paths advanced together. A bond of mutual admiration and shared interests was generated, which allowed the architect the opportunity to start a professional career to develop all his artistic qualities.

His artistic qualities took the name of Gaudinian architecture, based on his peculiar recreation of the Gothic style, his inclination towards curved and dynamic shapes, the application of artisanal decoration techniques to architecture, such as stained glass, wrought iron, and furniture designed by himself. Also, his unique use of mosaic fragments of ceramics contained with vibrant colors.

His relationship with Güell inspired, complemented, and further influenced Antoni Gaudí. He received a large number of commissions and proposed countless projects. Most of them, fortunately, were carried out, but some others were only captured on paper. During his mature period, masterpieces were coming one after the other, for example, the Bellesguard Tower, the Park Güell, the restoration of the cathedral of Mallorca, the church of the Güell Colony, the Batlló House, La Pedrera, and finally, the Sagrada Familia.

As the architect became more known and famous, he progressively acted more reclusively. Gaudí, who in his youth had frequented theaters, concerts, and gatherings, went from appearing as a young man with gourmet tastes and extreme elegance to an old man who neglected his personal appearance, ate with asceticism, and withdrew from social life while he devoted himself with more fervor to the mystical and religious field.

Antoni Gaudí died in a traffic accident, he was hit by a tram while walking on June 10, 1926 towards the Sagrada Familia from the church of Sant Felip Neri. After the blow, he lost consciousness, at the time people who saw the accident knew that it was the famous architect, he was also undocumented. He was taken to the Hospital de la Santa Cruz, where he would later be recognized by the priest of the Sagrada Familia. The funeral took place two days later at the Sagrada Familia, it was a crowded and heartfelt funeral: a good part of the people of Barcelona went out into the streets to say their last goodbye to the most universal architect that the city had seen.

He was a Catalan architect recognized internationally as one of the most skilled and prodigious in his discipline, as well as one of the main exponents of the modernist movement. His exceptional genius was the architect of the birth of a unique, personal, and incomparable architectural language that is difficult to define, categorize, and therefore imitate. In this way, Gaudí found the essence and meaning of architecture in being faithful to its patterns, always respecting its laws. The artist’s intention was not to copy or repeat, in this context, to make his architecture the most beautiful, sustainable, and effective possible.