Antoni Gaudí

Spanish architect (1852–1926)

Antoni Gaudí i Cornet (25 June 1852 – 10 June 1926) was a Spanish architect. He was born in Reus, in Catalonia, and became a leader of Catalan modernism. Gaudí's works are in his own style. Most are in the Catalan capital of Barcelona, especially his greatest work, the Sagrada Família.

Gaudí in 1878
Casa Vicens in Barcelona
Sagrada Família in Barcelona

He got some ideas from neo-Gothic art, Art Deco and Oriental techniques, and became part of the modernist movement in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Between 1984 and 2005, seven of his works were declared World Heritage Sites by UNESCO. The seven works were: the Park Güell, the Palau Güell and the Casa Milà; the Nativity facade, the crypt and the apse of the Sagrada Família, the Casa Vicens and the Casa Batlló in Barcelona, and the crypt of the Colònia Güell in Santa Coloma de Cervelló.

Gaudí's Roman Catholic faith grew during his life, and religious images are found in his work. This earned him the nickname "God's Architect",[1] and eventually led to his beatification in 2011.[2][3]

His work had a style inspired by nature. Gaudí rarely drew detailed plans of his works, instead preferring to create them as three-dimensional scale models and molding the details as he was conceiving them.

Gaudí died on 10 June 1926 in Barcelona, Spain, after being hit by a tram, aged 73.

References change

  1. Tremlett, Giles (11 July 2003). "God's architect on road to sainthood". The Guardian. UK. Archived from the original on 16 October 2011. Retrieved 21 April 2011.
  2. ""God's architect" on the path to sainthood". The Times. UK. 9 November 2009. Archived from the original on 16 October 2011. Retrieved 20 April 2011.
  3. Klettner, Andrea (4 November 2010). "Pope's visit could fast-track Gaudí sainthood". Bdonline.co.uk. Archived from the original on 16 October 2011. Retrieved 21 April 2011.

Other websites change