Antoni Gaudi

Gaudi's work is admired around the world as being one of the most unique and distinctive styles. His work has greatly influenced the face of Barcelona and you will see Gaudi's work all over the city. Antoni Gaudi was born in Reus in 1852. From the very beginning his designs were different from those of his contemporaries. Gaudi's work was greatly influenced by forms of nature and this is reflected by the use of curved construction stones, twisted iron sculptures, and organic-like forms which are traits of Gaudi's Barcelona work.

It may come as a surprise that Gaudi was such a recluse and shabby dresser in his later life that when he was run over by a tram in 1926, no one recognized him and taxi drivers refused to take the poor vagabond to the hospital. When his friends discovered him the next day in a pauper's hospital and tried to move him to a better facility, he refused, saying he wanted to stay among the poor. Gaudi died at 74. Half of Barcelona dressed in black to honor him. He was buried in a crypt in his beloved Sagrada Familia.

Gaudi is considered a genius who belonged to the Modernist or Art Nouveau style. He took his inspiration from nature to create highly unique and individualistic designs. Gaudi was a devout Catholic, who after the construction of the Park Guell, resolved to devote his energies solely non-secular works. He worked almost exclusively on the Sagrada Familia in his later years.

The young Gaudi designed buildings in a Gothic style but he soon developed his own individualistic expression. His signature work, the Sagrada Familia, is mesmerizing for its bizarre mix of Gothic and modernist elements.

Gaudi's work was originally ridiculed but he found commissions from rich industrialists. He reached the peak of his career in 1910 but a series of personal tragedies caused him to withdraw from society. He refused to be photographed or interviewed in his later years.