Gaudi in Barcelona

This report discusses Barcelona's famous architect, Antoni Gaudi. It also explores

the intrinsic relationship between the city and the architect. The paper

presents a brief biography of Gaudi and examines the general characteristics,

influences, and styles of his work and creations. The paper describes four of

Gaudi's many projects in Barcelona: the Sacred Family (La Sagrada Familia), La

Pedrera (Casa MilÐ" ), La Casa BatllÐ"Ñ- and the GÐ"јell Park.

Antoni Gaudi i Cornet was worn in the province of Tarragona in Catalonia in 1852.

At the age of 16 Gaudi left his hometown Reus to join the school of architecture of

Barcelona. At that time Barcelona was a fast-growing city because of the start of its

industry. It was the main city of Catalunya where at the time Gaudi arrived there

was a large anarchist independence movement. Like the followers of this

movement Gaudi loved Catalunya above everything else. For that reason the major

influences on his work were mauresque, oriental and gothic architecture, all of

them traditional Catalonian styles. New foreign movements like the arts and crafts,

impressionism and Art Nouveau were also discussed in the intellectual modernist

society.

Art Nouveau is the movement that influenced Gaudi the most, stimulating him to

experiment with new materials and new shapes, thereby helping him to give up

imitating historical styles and find his own way. The term Art Nouveau is French

and means New Art. It was an extraordinary movement in art history from the end

of the nineteenth century and lasted from about 1880 to 1915. The style is

characterized by using organic, ornamental shapes and patterns and by integrating

all aspects of art and design. The movement had different names in different

languages. In Germany it was called Jugendstil, in Italy Stile Liberty, in Austria

Sezession and in Spain Modernista or Modernismo.

The opportunities afforded by Catalonia's socioeconomic and political

environments were endless. Catalonians such as Antoni GaudÐ"­ often showcased the

region's diverse art techniques in their works. By mimicking nature, such artists

symbolically pushed back the province's ever-increasing industrial society. GaudÐ"­,

among others, promoted the Catalan nationalist movement by incorporating

elements of Catalan culture in his designs.

Almost all of Gaudi's buildings were constructed in Barcelona. His early designs

reflect the taste in the late 1800's for color and for peasant or folk traditions. In

Gaudi's work, this resulted in the use of colorful tiles of the sort used in moorish

architecture. His best known designs of the early 1900's include two houses, the

Casa Batllo (1905-1907) and the Casa Mila (1905-1910). He also planted a hillside

park called the Park Guell. Gaudi's most famous structure is probably the

unfinished Church of the Sagrada Familia.

The Casa BatllÐ"Ñ- was build between 1898 and 1904. Happy and harmonic, what

initially had to be just a refurbishment of the faÐ"§ade of the BatllÐ"Ñ- family house,

finally happened to be the most poetic and sensitive work of GaudÐ"­. He added to

the project a double loft, the staircase and the interiors decoration. The result was Ð'-

and still is- an architectural smile related to Barcelona forever.

GaudÐ"­ worked in The Casa MilÐ" between 1905 and 1910. This big house, built for

Mr. Pere MilÐ" i Camps, is the best example of GaudÐ"­'s plastic architecture concept.

Designed with overwhelming imagination and creativity, the Pedrera ("Stone

quarry", called like this because it looked like a stone quarry) is nowadays another

must of Barcelona.

The GÐ"јell Park was constructed between 1900-1914 and it's a lively example of

the best union among nature, urbanism and architecture. Commissioned by Mr.

Eusebi GÐ"јell, the park was originally conceived to be a garden city. From 1922 is a

city municipal park, and has certainly become one of the most emblematic

monuments of the city. Its dragon, at the main entrance stairway, is one of the most

famous sculptures in the world.

If one work is to define Gaudi then surely