Some call Gaudí a great artist and others, a great technician…

14th March 2010   ·   0 Comments

Born in 1852 in Reus (Camp de Tarragona) and son of a copper maker from Riudoms,

from childhood Gaudí was an attentive observer of nature and felt attracted to its forms,

colours and geometry. In 1868, he decided to study architecture in Barcelona,

in a college dominated by neo-classical and romantic trends. Thus,

his first architectural pruduction swung between a reinterpretation

of historical canons with oriental influence and the recovery of medieval events.

Despite his youth he received the first assignments from the ecclesiastic world and the bourgeoisie,

who would always be his main clients. Among these,

the Association of Devotees of Saint Joseph stands out as they commissioned him

with the Expiatory Temple of the Sagrada Família (the cathedral of the modern Barcelona).

Of equal importance was the industrialist Eusebi Güell, the best client and essential patron,

who entrusted him with the construction of a palace, the curch for an industrial colony,

some pavilions for his summer residence and a city-garden.

After his death in 1926, he and his work entered a period of ostracismm until

the avant-gardist trends and the international movement recuperated

his figure while presenting him as an example of modernisation

and renewal of 20th century architecture.

Tags:  Gaudí, Gaudí great artist