Which city is decorated with the works of Antoni Gaudi. Antonio Gaudi: the most mysterious architect in history who worked miracles. Interesting facts from the biography of Antoni Gaudi

Gaudi's Magic Houses are located primarily in Barcelona, ​​as this is where Antoni Gaudi lived and worked. Of course, Gaudi was not the only one who created modern Barcelona. The city saw many talented architects during a relatively short period of time called the Catalan Renaissance. In addition to Gaudi's Barcelona, ​​there is also modern Barcelona, ​​Gothic Barcelona, ​​and the "Spanish Village" district, which embodies the styles of all Spanish provinces, and the famous Rambla - the district of old Barcelona. But Gaudi's Barcelona is something special, incomparable. The thirteen objects (not always buildings) built by Gaudí in Barcelona give it its originality and charm and are an irresistible attraction for tourists.

At the beginning of Gaudí's independent work, his first, richly decorated, early Art Nouveau projects were built:

“Stylist Twins” - elegant House of Vicens (Barcelona)

Quirky El Capricho (mood) (Comillas, Cantabria).

And also the compromise pseudo-baroque House of Calvet (Barcelona) - the only building recognized and loved by the townspeople during his lifetime (by the way, the house was built without a single load-bearing wall inside).

Gaudi was extremely uncommunicative and even withdrawn. He's even cruel to people. Gaudí never married. Since childhood, he suffered from rheumatism, which prevented him from playing with other children, but did not interfere with long solitary walks, to which he had a passion all his life. He did not recognize luxury and wealth, ate and dressed haphazardly. - when it concerned him personally. But at the same time he built luxurious buildings. There were no records left from Gaudí; he had no close friends. And many of the circumstances of his life have still not been clarified. Calvet House inside:

Decisive for the flourishing of the young architect was his meeting with Eusebi Güell. Gaudí later became a friend of Güell. This textile magnate, the richest man in Catalonia, no stranger to aesthetic insights, could afford to order any dream, and Gaudi received what every creator dreams of: freedom of expression without regard to the budget. Palace Guell:

A great architect who almost never worked with drawings, whose work was based on scrupulous mathematical calculations, a subversive of authority and a trendsetter who created outside of established styles. His main tools were imagination, intuition and... mental calculations. You could say he was the Einstein of architecture. Palace Güell, view from the roof:

Having gained financial "independence", Gaudí goes beyond the dominant historical styles within the eclecticism of the 19th century, declaring war on the straight line and forever moving into the world of curved surfaces to form his own, unmistakably recognizable style.

Antonio Gaudí i Cornet was born on June 25, 1852 in the small town of Reus, near Tarragona, in Catalonia. He was the fifth and youngest child in the family of boilermakers Francesc Gaudí i Serra and his wife Antonia Cornet i Bertrand. It was in his father’s workshop, as the architect himself admits, that the sense of space awakened in him.

Gaudi's Barcelona is a fairy tale embodied in architecture. Onlookers mill around in front of his residential buildings. It is strange that people live in these tower houses, and not fairy-tale creatures; that under these raised roofs, behind these curved facades with swollen balconies, everyday life goes on. It is even more difficult to imagine that every detail of this excessively lush decor carries not only an aesthetic, but also a functional load. That is, it was created not only to amaze the imagination: rich Barcelonans are accustomed not only to luxury, but also to comfort.

With the completion of the palace, Antoni Gaudí ceased to be an anonymous builder, quickly becoming the most fashionable architect in Barcelona, ​​soon becoming an "almost unaffordable luxury". For the bourgeoisie of Barcelona, ​​he built houses one more unusual than the other: a space that is born and develops, expanding and moving, like living matter.

Mosaic ceiling in the house:

Gaudi is a genius far ahead of his time. A phenomenon that defies explanation, much less imitation. Unique, incomparable, unthinkable.

But his main creation, the pinnacle of his art and the outlet of his heart was the Expiatory Temple of the Holy Family (Sagrada Familia). In 1906, his father died, and six years later, his ill-health niece, his last close person, died. Gaudi completely closed himself off and made this temple his atoning sacrifice. Imagine, all the money that he earned as the architect of the temple, Gaudi invested in the construction itself. He worked for free for many years, not considering himself to have the right to appropriate people’s money, and the temple was built with donations from rich and poor Barcelonans.

Gaudí did not hope to complete the Sagrada Familia during his lifetime. He dreamed of finishing the East Facade of the Nativity so that his own generation could see the fruits of his efforts. By doing this, he obliged future builders to continue working. He managed to complete the chapel, the apse (the semicircular part of the building), a section of the monastery, and part of the vestibule<Розарий>and a parochial school. The three bell towers of the Nativity façade were completed after his death. He left detailed drawings, 1:10 scale models, and design sketches so that his followers would not deviate from his plan. But continuing construction turned out to be difficult: it required huge funds. It was decided to mothball it during the civil war. Several times the Temple was under threat of destruction.

The school was destroyed, Gaudi's workshop was destroyed. The controversy over whether to continue or freeze the work was a logical consequence of the authorities’ attitude towards the work of the great Catalan. The work either progressed in full swing, or was curtailed due to lack of funds. But then His Majesty the people intervened. Money continued to flow into the Temple Construction Fund. On average, construction costs three million dollars annually.

This year, Barcelona's Jews donated five million. But even with a stable influx of funds, construction is designed for at least another 65 years, although no one can name the exact date. Gaudi couldn’t name her either. When asked when the Sagrada Familia would be completed, he replied: “My customer is in no hurry.”

Now the boom of a tower crane hangs over the Temple. The interior is a huge construction site: concrete mixers, iron structures, reinforced concrete blocks, plaster decorative parts, column capitals. The most advanced technologies and materials that Gaudi did not know are used. Computer analysis confirms the accuracy of his calculations, which he checked using sandbags suspended from a model. Skeptics doubt that the Sagrada Familia will ever be completed and that Gaudi's secret plan was to make its construction eternal.

Gaudi is considered to be part of Catalan Art Nouveau. He is its brightest representative. But it does not completely fit into any architectural movement. With the same success it can be attributed to the Moorish Baroque, Neoclassicism or Neo-Gothic. But he chose to arbitrarily mix all architectural styles, creating his own eclecticism. What really sets it apart from everyone else is the connection between architecture and nature.

Gaudi died when he was hit by the first tram to be launched at the foot of Mount Tibidabo. He was almost 74 years old. He probably could have survived, but the cab drivers refused to take an unkempt, unknown old man without money or documents to the hospital, fearing non-payment for the trip. Gaudí was eventually taken to a hospital for the poor, and no one could recognize the famous architect until his friends found him the next day. When they tried to transport him to the best hospital, he refused, saying that “his place is here, among the poor.” Gaudí died on the third day, June 10, 1926. In 1926, Antonio Gaudi, the greatest architect of the 20th century, whose creations now and forever defined the appearance of Barcelona, ​​was buried in the crypt of the cathedral he had not completed.

Gaudi deifies nature. His church spiers are topped with sheaves of cereals and ears of corn, the window arches are topped with baskets of fruit, and bunches of grapes hang from the facades; drainpipes writhe in the shape of snakes and reptiles; the chimneys are twisted with snails, the grates are forged in the shape of palm leaves. But Gaudi does something that no one had dared to do before: he transfers the laws of nature to architecture. He managed to achieve the continuous fluidity of architectural forms, accessible only to living nature. He uses parabolic floors and inclined tree-like columns. There is not a single straight line in his projects, just as there is none in nature.

Catalan modernism, the impetus for which was, in particular, Antoni Gaudi, arose on the powerful crest of national resistance. Catalonia did not always belong to Spain. It became Spanish as a result of the royalist marriage of Ferdinand of Aragon and Isabella of Castile, the one who sent Columbus on his voyage and expelled the Jews from Spain. Over the next three centuries, Catalonia gradually lost its privileges and increasingly became a Spanish province. The proud Catalans could not accept this. They strongly opposed Spanish cultural expansion. The explosion of national self-awareness affected all spheres of public life: music, literature, painting, sculpture, architecture, theater, language. Eventually, the Catalans regained their language, Catalan, and achieved autonomous governance. Barcelona has become the most beautiful city in the country.

By the way, at the dawn of his activity, Gaudí was associated with workers' trade unions. The labor movement in industrial Catalonia, especially in the textile industry, was most intense. Gaudí's first major project was the creation of a workers' town in Montaro. Subsequently, Gaudi moved away from the labor movement, became a devout Catholic and erected Christian symbols not only on cathedrals and residential buildings, but also on purely utilitarian buildings.

Among Gaudí's residential buildings, the apartment building that went down in history under the name "Casa Mila" is especially famous. This house was popularly nicknamed "Pedrera" ("Kamenyuka"), "Wasp's Nest" or, even worse, "Meat Pie".

But if, of all the modern buildings in the world, only this one remained in the world, it would personify modernity in its perfect form. This six-story undulating building wraps around the intersection of Grazia Boulevard and Provenza Street. Visitors are allowed there as if they were in a museum.

Anticipating the flow of visitors, Gaudi turned the roof into a terrace and at the same time an observation deck. He placed stables in the basement - this was a prototype of a garage. He was the first to use a ramp (lifting from floor to floor) for horses and carriages - this principle was later used in multi-story parking lots.

A few months after Gaudi's death, the young Japanese sculptor Kenji Imai visited Barcelona. He was so shocked by the Temple that he decided to create a cathedral in Nagasaki based on studying the works of Gaudí. Since then, the Japanese pilgrimage to Barcelona began.

There are a lot of tourists here from other countries :)

Gaudi's magical houses inspire many people

Based on materials from http://www.uadream.com/tourism/europe/Spain/element.php?ID=20873

Hello friends. You are probably already accustomed to the fact that we tell you about interesting sights, cities, and those places on our planet that you simply cannot help but visit. This time we want to talk about Antonio Gaudi. Let's try to do without enthusiastic epithets - all of them have been said about this architect more than once. Let’s just note: without this man there would not have been the Barcelona, ​​Spain, and even the history of world architecture that we are familiar with. Go.

Antonio Placid Guilhem Gaudí i Cornet was born in 1852 in Catalonia, in the small town of Reus. He was the youngest child in the large family of boilermaker Francesc Gaudí i Serra and his wife.

It was thanks to his father’s workshop, as Antonio himself later said, that his biography as an architect began.

His brothers and sister died, and his mother later died. This is how Gaudi’s niece ended up in his care. The three of them, together with their father, settled in Barcelona.

In 1906, his father died; by that time his health was already seriously compromised, and six years later his niece died.

A star is born

By 1878, Gaudí graduated from the school of architecture. After which he began to work as a draftsman, did a lot of auxiliary work, and unsuccessfully took part in various competitions.

What was happening around? And all around there was excitement associated with the neo-Gothic style. The idea and the very forms of this direction certainly delighted Gaudi. But he drew inspiration for his projects from the works of Viollet-le-Duc, the Spanish architect Martorel and art critic John Ruskin.

Eugene Emmanuel Viollet-le-Duc - French architect, restorer, art critic and architectural historian, neo-Gothic ideologist, founder of architectural restoration. Wikipedia

A turning point in the work of Antoni Gaudi was his acquaintance with Eusebi Güell, who would later become his friend.

One of the richest people in Catalonia, Guell could afford to play around a little, making his wildest dreams come true. Well, in this case Gaudi received complete freedom of expression.

For the Güell family, Antonio created designs for the city palace, the pavilions of their estate, wine cellars, a crypt, a chapel, as well as the one known to everyone.

Bench in Park Guell

Don’t forget about the wonderful examples of furniture that the designer Gaudi came up with and embodied in the houses of Güell.

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Gradually, Gaudi went beyond the framework of the then dominant styles, completely immersed himself deep into his own universe of curved surfaces and natural ornaments. And with the completion of construction at the age of 34, the architect had already become a star, whose work not everyone could afford.

For the rich people of Barcelona, ​​he built incredibly different houses - , . They all seemed to live their own bizarre lives, incomprehensible to outsiders.

Interior of Casa Mila

Love, friends, death

The genius devoted all his time to work. They say that he loved only one woman in his life - the teacher Joseph Moreau. But she did not reciprocate. In general, it is believed that the architect was a rather arrogant and rude person. Although people close to me said the opposite.

In his youth, Antonio dressed like a dandy, was a gourmet, and was well versed in the performing arts. In adulthood, he completely stopped taking care of himself. Often on the streets he was mistaken for a tramp.

The latter fact became, alas, fatal for the architect. On June 7, 1926, Gaudí went to church. At the next intersection he was hit by a tram. The cab driver refused to take the unkempt old man, fearing that he would not be paid for the journey.

In the end, the masters were taken to the doorstep of a hospital for the poor, where they received absolutely primitive first aid. The next day, Gaudi was found by friends, but it was no longer possible to save him. He died on June 10 and was buried in the Sagrada Familia a few days later.

Interior of the Sagrada Familia

It is interesting that in recent decades there has been a program to canonize Gaudi as a saint, the patron saint of architects.

Architecture

The life of the architect was fruitful and colorful. Bright, like its architecture. Many people believe that Gaudi created in the Art Nouveau style. However, in fact, his houses noticeably go beyond the boundaries of one style.

We have already mentioned the most famous works of the architect. Let's remember a few more.

One of his first works was the Vincennes House, a private residential building that Gaudí built almost immediately after receiving his diploma. And its architecture clearly shows the influence of the Spanish-Arab Mudejar style.

House Vincennes

The master's next creation was the summer mansion El Capriccio in the town of Comillas.

Construction was carried out by order of a relative of Güell. And Gaudi himself never even visited the construction site. This building is known primarily for its constructivist feature - the horizontal distribution of space.

In the territory of León stands another ode to the Gothic, created by Antonio - the Botines House. This seven-level building is practically devoid of external decor. The austere appearance is set off only by the artistic forging of the grille.

But let's go back to Barcelona. Yet this is where most of the great architect’s creations are located.

Casa Calvet is another private house built by Gaudí.

It was built as an apartment building. Here you will no longer see even a hint of Gothic. The design of the building is quite ascetic, which harmonizes well with other buildings in the area.

But take a closer look and you will see a lot of important little things: knockers on the front doors represent bedbugs, textile bobbins at the entrance remind of the owner’s profession, floral ornaments hint at the hobbies of the owners of the house.

And, of course, the symbol of Barcelona, ​​and maybe the whole country - the Sagrada Familia or the Sagrada Familia.

This is probably the most famous long-term construction. Various architects have worked and are working on its creation. One of them was Gaudi. It was his work that formed the basis for the appearance of the building.

Gaudi made his contribution to the field of landscape architecture and small forms. These include:

• Artigas Gardens
• lanterns of Barcelona's Royal Square
• Mirallas Gate and many others.

Repeatedly he worked together with other masters.

This was the life and work of a genius who changed our understanding of architecture.

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Antonio Gaudi born June 25, 1852 in the small town of Reus, near Tarragona in Catalonia (Spain). Gaudi spent his childhood by the sea. He carried the impressions of his first architectural experiments throughout his life, which is why some of his houses resemble sand castles. Due to rheumatism, the boy could not play with children and was often left alone, spending a lot of time communicating with nature. Mobility limited due to illness sharpened the future architect’s powers of observation and opened up to him the world of nature, which became the main source of inspiration in solving both artistic, design and constructive problems. Antonio loved to spend a long time watching the mountains, clouds, flowers, and snails. Gaudi's mother instilled in the boy a love of religion. She inspired him that since the Lord had left him alive, Antonio must definitely find out why.

In the seventies of the 19th century, Gaudí moved to Barcelona, ​​where, after five years of preparatory courses, he was admitted to the Higher School of Architecture, from which he graduated in 1878. It was an educational institution of a new type, in which teachers did everything to ensure that learning did not turn into a routine. At the School, students were encouraged to have the opportunity to participate in real projects, and practical experience is always very valuable to an architect. Antonio studied with pleasure and enthusiasm, sat in the library in the evenings, learned German and French in order to be able to read literature on his profile. Antonio was one of the best students, but was never loved.

In 1870-1882, Antonio Gaudi worked under the supervision of architects Emilio Sala and Francisco Villar as a draftsman, unsuccessfully participating in competitions; studied crafts, performing many small works (fences, lanterns, etc.), and also designed furniture for his own home.

In Europe at that time there was an extraordinary flowering neo-gothic style , and young Gaudi enthusiastically followed the ideas of neo-Gothic enthusiasts - the French architect and writer Violet le Duc (the largest restorer of Gothic cathedrals in the 19th century, who restored Notre Dame Cathedral) and the English critic and art critic John Ruskin. The declaration they proclaimed “Decorativeness is the beginning of architecture” was fully consistent with Gaudi’s own thoughts and ideas, whose creative style over the years becomes completely unique, architecture is as far from the generally accepted one as Lobachevsky’s geometry is from classical Euclidean.

During the period of early creativity, marked by the influences of the architecture of Barcelona, ​​as well as the Spanish architect Martorel, his first, richly decorated, early Art Nouveau projects were built: “stylistic twins” - elegant House of Vicens (Barcelona) and the whimsical El Capricho (Comillas, Cantabria):

In accordance with the owner’s desire to see a “kingdom of ceramics” in his country residence, Gaudi covered the walls of the house with multi-colored iridescent majolica tiles, decorated the ceilings with hanging stucco “stalactites,” and filled the courtyard with fancy gazebos and lanterns. The garden buildings and the residential building formed a magnificent ensemble, in the forms of which the architect first tried out his favorite techniques:

● abundance of ceramic finishes;

● plasticity, fluidity of forms;

● bold combinations of different style elements;

● contrasting combinations of light and dark, horizontals and verticals.

El Capricho (Comillas, Cantabria):

The outside of the building is faced with rows of brick and ceramic tiles. The first floor is faced with wide rows of multi-colored bricks alternating with narrow stripes of majolica tiles with relief casts of sunflower inflorescences.

The compromise pseudo-baroque dates back to the same period. House Calvet(Barcelona) - the only building recognized and loved by the citizens during his lifetime:

Also during these years the following projects appeared:

● School at the monastery of St. Teresa (Barcelona) in a restrained Gothic, even “serf” style:

● Neo-Gothic Episcopal Palace in Astorga (Castilla and Leon):

● Neo-Gothic Botines House (Leon):

However, his meeting with Eusebi Guelem . Gaudí later became a friend of Güell. This textile magnate, the richest man in Catalonia, no stranger to aesthetic insights, could afford to order any dream, and Gaudi received what every creator dreams of: freedom of expression without regard to the budget. Antonio carries out designs for the pavilions of the estate in Pedralbes near Barcelona for the Güell family; wine cellars in Garraf, chapels and crypts of Colonia Güell (Santa Coloma de Cervelho); fantastic Park Güell (Barcelona). In these works, Gaudi goes beyond the dominant historical styles within the eclecticism of the 19th century, declaring war on the straight line and forever moving into the world of curved surfaces to form his own, unmistakably recognizable style.

One day Güell conceived the idea of ​​reconstructing his summer country residence. For this purpose, he expands his holdings by acquiring several more plots. He gave the order for the reconstruction of the country house to Antonio Gaudi, instructing him to remake the park, reform the country house, erect a fence with a gate, build new pavilions at the entrance to the estate, and the architect was also instructed to build a stable with an indoor arena. Now this complex is called Park Guell .

Like all subsequent works of Gaudí, these buildings are deeply symbolic; there are no random details here. The architect's plan was based on the myth of the magical garden of the Hesperides. This myth was reflected in the poem “Atlantis” by the Catalan author Jacinta Verdaguer, who often visited the Guell estate. The poem describes one of the labors of Hercules, who was ordered by the king of Mycenae, wanting to test the strength of Hercules, to get golden apples from the garden, which was carefully guarded. The most interesting, preserved part of the estate is the gate in the shape of a dragon. According to legend, the bloodthirsty dragon Ladon guarded the entrance to the garden, where there grew a tree with golden apples that bestow eternal youth and immortality.

Another Gaudí building for his philanthropist and friend is the manufacturer’s house in Barcelona, ​​the so-called Palace Guell :

With the completion of the palace, Antoni Gaudí ceased to be an anonymous builder, quickly becoming the most fashionable architect in Barcelona, ​​soon becoming an "almost unaffordable luxury".

At that time, Antonio Gaudi was still working as a draftsman in the architectural bureau of his former teacher at the Higher School of Architecture, Villar. This also played an interesting role in Gaudi’s later life. The point is that construction Temple of the Holy Family (Temple Expiatori de la Sagrada Família) has been going on in Barcelona for several years. And when the question arose about replacing the architect, Villar proposed the candidacy of Gaudi. Oddly enough, the Church Council accepted it. Antonio founded his own architectural bureau, recruited a staff of assistants and plunged headlong into work ( )

The clients, who were ready to spend half a fortune on construction, initially believed in the genius of the architect, who was effortlessly paving a new path in architecture. For the bourgeoisie of Barcelona, ​​he built houses one more unusual than the other. One of these houses was the house Casa Mila - space that is born and develops, expanding and moving like living matter. The house is better known as La Pedrera, which translates as the quarry. The project was commissioned by entrepreneur Pedro Mila y Camps. He needed a house whose apartments he could rent out. Gaudí planned a wavy façade. The iron structures were faced with cut stone, which was cut down nearby in the province of Barcelona:

Design began in 1906, and the architect, with his characteristic scrupulousness, verified all the lines. He designed the space so that the neighbors felt as isolated as possible from each other, and besides, if the owner of the house decided to turn it into a hotel, then no problems should arise either. Nevertheless, Pedro Mila expressed impatience and urged him in every possible way. But obstacles arose at every step. Thus, the regulatory authorities were unhappy with the column, which protruded half a meter onto the sidewalk. They demanded that it be removed. Gaudi fought for every detail of his project. He threatened that if he still had to remove the column, then in the place where it should have been, he would write who exactly was guilty of its absence.

Then there were sizing issues. The height of the structure was four meters higher than permitted. There was a requirement to cut down the attic. In case of failure to comply with the requirement, the owner was subject to a fine that corresponded to a fifth of the entire project. A commission was created that recognized the building as of great value and thus all this disagreement with the law was resolved.

House Mila took three years to build. While the work was going on, the rich Pere Mila became poor, since he had already paid 100 thousand pesetas for the architect’s violation of all construction standards. Therefore, towards the end, he could not stand it and said: “I won’t pay.” Gaudi replied: “Well, then finish the construction yourself.” After which they dispersed, patting their empty pockets, vilifying each other and taking the case to court. But subsequent generations can now be inspired and enjoy the beautiful architectural monument.

A similar project by Gaudi - Casa Batlló - a living, trembling creature, the fruit of a bizarre fantasy that has an unusual origin: it has a developed plot - St. George kills the dragon. The first two floors resemble the bones and skeleton of a dragon, the texture of the wall resembles its skin, and the roof of a complex pattern resembles its spine. Above the roof rises a tower in the form of a spear piercing the dragon's body. Casa Batllo is also known as the "House of Bones":

WITH Church of the Holy Family - Sagrada Familia - became the most famous work of Antoni Gaudi, although he did not start building it and he did not finish it. But for the architect himself, this work became the culmination of his life and work. Attaching particular importance to this building as a monumental symbol of the national and social revival of Catalonia, Antogio Gaudí focused entirely on it from 1910, placing his workshop here.

According to Gaudí, the Sagrada Familia was to become a symbolic building, a grandiose allegory of the Nativity of Christ, represented by three facades. The eastern one is dedicated to Christmas; the western one - the Passion of Christ, the southern one, the most impressive, should become the facade of the Resurrection. The portals and towers of the Sagrada Familia are richly sculpted to resemble the entire living world, with a dizzying complexity of profiles and detailing that surpasses anything Gothic has ever known. This is a kind of Gothic Art Nouveau, which, however, is based on the plan of a purely medieval cathedral.

Despite the fact that Gaudi built the Sagrada Familia for thirty-five years, he managed to build and decorate only the Nativity façade, which is structurally the eastern part of the transept, and the four towers above it. The western part of the apse, which forms the largest part of this magnificent building, is still unfinished. More than seventy years after Gaudí's death, construction of the Sagrada Familia continues today. Spiers are gradually being erected (only one was completed during the architect’s lifetime), facades with figures of the apostles and evangelists, scenes of the ascetic life and atoning death of the Savior are being decorated. Construction of the Church of the Holy Family is expected to be completed by 2030.

The model of the future Temple of the Holy Family (Temple Expiatori de la Sagrada Família) in Barcelona, ​​made up of suspended bags of sand, could only be “read” by modern computers! By connecting the bag dots, the researchers obtained a spatial model of the cathedral. In addition, in order not to “cut” the room into pieces, Gaudi came up with his own unsupported ceiling system, and only 100 years later a computer program appeared that could perform such operations. It was a NASA program that calculated space flight trajectories.

The architect spent his last years as an ascetic hermit, completely devoting all his strength and energy to creating the immortal Cathedral of the Holy Family - Sagrada Familia, which became the highest embodiment of not only his unique talent, but also his devout faith. He decorated the tops of the temple towers so carefully that the angels would be pleased to look at them.

At the end of lifeAntonio Gaudi became very ill. I caught brucellosis or Maltese fever, which is still difficult to diagnose today. Doctors believe that “brucellosis is characterized by sudden changes in mood, leading to suicidal depression. Interspersed with outbursts of anger and periods of distraction, this depressed mood is accompanied by physical exhaustion, excruciating headaches and painful arthritis.” There was no cure for this disease. Perhaps this can explain why Gaudi has changed so much for the worse. He walked around in saggy jackets, and his trousers hung around his legs, which he wrapped in bandages because of the cold... And no underwear! However, he did not change his outer clothes until they turned into rags. The great architect ate what was put into his hand while walking - a piece of bread, for example. If nothing was shoved in, I didn’t eat anything. When he didn’t eat anything for a very long time, he lay down and began to die. But one of the students came, changed his clothes, fed him...

On June 7, 1926, 73-year-old Gaudi was hit by a tram and lost consciousness. Cab drivers refused to take an unkempt, unknown old man without money or documents to the hospital, fearing non-payment for the trip. Gaudi soon died from his injuries.

Watch a video presentation of Gaudi's most famous works:

, Catalonia

Date of death Works and achievements Worked in cities Architectural style Major buildings

La Sagrada Familia

Antoni Gaudí i Cournet on Wikimedia Commons

Anthony Placid Guillem Gaudí i Cournet(also Antonio; cat. Antoni Plàcid Guillem Gaudí i Cornet, Spanish Antonio Plácido Guillermo Gaudí y Cornet ; June 25, Reus, Catalonia - June 10, Barcelona) is a Spanish (Catalan) architect, most of whose bizarre and fantastic works were erected in Barcelona.

Biography

Family

Antoni Gaudi i Cornet was born on June 25, 1852 in the small town of Reus, near Tarragona, in Catalonia. According to other sources, his place of birth was Riudoms, a place located 4 km from Reus, where his parents had a small country house. He was the fifth and youngest child in the family of boilermakers Francesc Gaudi i Serra and his wife Antonia Curnet i Bertrand. It was in his father’s workshop, as the architect himself admits, that the sense of space awakened in him. Gaudí's two brothers died in infancy, the third brother died in 1876, and his mother died soon after. In 1879, his sister also died, leaving Gaudí with a little daughter. Together with his father and niece, Gaudi settled in Barcelona, ​​where his father died in 1906, and six years later his niece, who was in poor health, died. Gaudi never married, moreover, he was a misogynist. Since childhood, he suffered from rheumatism, which prevented him from playing with other children, but did not interfere with the long solitary walks to which he had a passion all his life. Mobility limited due to illness sharpened the future architect’s powers of observation and opened up to him the world of nature, which became the main source of inspiration in solving both artistic, design and constructive problems.

Becoming

In 1870-1882, Antoni Gaudi worked under the supervision of architects Emilio Sala and Francisco Villar as a draftsman, unsuccessfully participating in competitions; studied crafts, performing many small works (fences, lanterns, etc.), and also designed furniture for his own home.

Also during these years, a project appeared in a restrained Gothic, even “serf” style - the School at the Monastery of St. Teresa (Barcelona), as well as an unrealized project for buildings of the Franciscan Mission in Tangier; neo-Gothic Episcopal Palace in Astorga (Castilla, Leon) and the House of Botines (Leon).

However, his meeting with Eusebi Güell was decisive for the realization of the young architect's plans. Gaudí later became a friend of Güell. This textile magnate, the richest man in Catalonia, no stranger to aesthetic insights, could afford to order any dream, and Gaudi received what every creator dreams of: freedom of expression without regard to the budget.

Gaudi designs pavilions for the estate in Pedralbes near Barcelona for the Güell family; wine cellars in Garraf, chapels and crypts of Colonia Güell (Santa Coloma de Cervelho); fantastic Park Güell (Barcelona).

Fame

Soon Gaudí moves beyond the dominant historical styles within the eclecticism of the 19th century, forever moving into the world of curved surfaces to form his own, unmistakable style.

The manufacturer's house in Barcelona, ​​the so-called Palais Güell ( Palau Güell), was the artist's response to the patron of the arts. With the completion of the palace, Antoni Gaudí ceased to be an anonymous builder, quickly becoming the most fashionable architect in Barcelona, ​​and soon became an "almost unaffordable luxury". For the bourgeoisie of Barcelona, ​​he built houses, one more unusual than the other: a space that is born and develops, expanding and moving, like living matter - House Mila; a living, trembling creature, the fruit of a bizarre fantasy - Casa Batllo.

The clients, who were ready to spend half a fortune on construction, initially believed in the genius of the architect, who was paving a new path in architecture.

Death

On June 7, 1926, 73-year-old Gaudí left his home to begin his daily journey to the church of Sant'Felip Neri, where he was a parishioner. While walking absentmindedly along the Gran Via de las Cortes Catalanes between Girona and Bailen streets, he was hit by a tram and lost consciousness. Cab drivers refused to take an unkempt, unknown old man without money or documents to the hospital, fearing non-payment for the trip. In the end, Gaudí was taken to a hospital for the poor, where he was given only primitive medical care. Only the next day he was found and identified by the chaplain of the Sagrada Familia Cathedral, Mosen Gil Pares i Vilasau. By that time, Gaudi's condition had already deteriorated so much that the best treatment could not help him.

Gaudi died on June 10, 1926 and was buried two days later in the crypt of the cathedral he had not completed.

Chronology of buildings

The style in which Gaudi worked is classified as Art Nouveau. However, in fact, in his work he used elements of a variety of styles, subjecting them to creative processing. Gaudi's work can be divided into two periods: early buildings and buildings in the National Art Nouveau style (after 1900).

1883-1888	Casa Vicens UNESCO World Heritage Site,
1883-1885	El Capriccio, Comillas (Cantabria)
1884-1887	Pavilions of the Guell estate, Pedralbes (Barcelona)
1886-1889	Palais Güell, Barcelona - included in the UNESCO World Heritage List,
1888-1894	School of the Convent of Saint Teresa, Barcelona
1889-1893	Episcopal Palace in Astorga, Castile (Leon)
1891-1892	House Botines, Leon
1883-1926	Expiatory Temple of the Sagrada Familia, Barcelona - included in the UNESCO World Heritage List,
1892-1893	Franciscan Mission in Tangier (not built)
1895-1898	Wine cellars of Güell, Garafa - included in the UNESCO World Heritage List,
1898-1900	Casa Calvet, Barcelona
1898-1916	Chapel and crypt of Colonia Güell, Santa Coloma de Servello
1900-1902	Figueres House on Calle Bellesguard, Barcelona
1900-1914	Park Güell, Barcelona - included in the UNESCO World Heritage List,
1903-1910	Artigas Gardens, 130 km from Barcelona, ​​foothills of the Pyrenees
1902	Villa Catlaras, La Pobla de Lillet
1901-1902	Manor Mirallas
1904	Warehouses of the Badia blacksmith artel
1904-1906	Casa Batllo
1905 (May)	Attraction Hotel Project, New York (not implemented)
1904-1919	Reconstruction of the Cathedral, Palma de Mallorca
1906-1910	Casa Mila ("Quarry"), Barcelona - included in the UNESCO World Heritage List,
1909-1910	Parish School of the Sagrada Familia at the Atonement, Barcelona

Interesting facts from the biography of Antoni Gaudi

Antoni Gaudi: Hotel Attraction

• Gaudi spent his childhood by the sea. He carried the impressions of his first architectural experiments throughout his life. That's why all his houses resemble sand castles.

• Due to rheumatism, the boy could not play with children and was often left alone. His attention was riveted for a long time by clouds, snails, flowers... Anthony dreamed of becoming an architect, but at the same time he did not want to invent anything. He wanted to build as nature builds, and considered the sky and sea to be the best interiors, and wood and clouds to be the ideal sculptural forms.

• When a school teacher once remarked that birds can fly thanks to their wings, the teenager Anthony objected: domestic chickens also have wings, but they cannot fly, but thanks to their wings they run faster. And he added that humans also need wings, but they don’t always know about it.

"Menagerie" on the roof of Casa Mila

• When Anthony was a student at the University of Barcelona's architectural seminar, his supervisor couldn't decide whether he was dealing with a genius or a madman.

• Gaudi chose the gates of the cemetery as the theme of the educational project, and these were the gates of the fortress - they separated the dead and the living, but testified that eternal peace is just a reward for a dignified life.

• Gaudi had different eyes: one was nearsighted, the other was farsighted, but he did not like glasses and said: “The Greeks did not wear glasses.”

• “It is madness to try to depict a non-existent object,” he wrote in his youthful diary.

He hated closed and geometrically regular spaces, and walls drove him straight to madness; avoided straight lines, believing that a straight line is a creation of man, and a circle is a creation of God.

Later he will say: “... the corners will disappear, and matter will generously appear in its astral roundness: the sun will penetrate here from all sides and the image of paradise will appear... so, my palace will become brighter than light.”

Dragon gate in the pavilions of Villa Güell (1887)

• In order not to “cut” the room into pieces, he came up with his own unsupported ceiling system. Only 100 years later a computer program appeared that could perform such calculations. This is a NASA program that calculates space flight trajectories.
• He considered a chicken egg to be a model of perfection and, as a sign of confidence in its phenomenal natural strength, at one time he carried raw eggs, which he took with him for breakfast, right in his pocket.
• Friends noted his absolutely fantastic dexterity, such as the ability to catch flies in flight with his left hand.
• Gaudi was a master artist in the highest sense of the word. He designed not only buildings, but also amazing furniture, fancy latticed fences, gates and railings. He explained his amazing ability to think and feel in three dimensions by heredity: his father and grandfather were blacksmiths, one of his mother’s grandfathers was a cooper, the other a sailor was “people of space and location.”

His father was a coppersmith, and this fact undoubtedly influenced Gaudi's passion for artistic casting. Many of Gaudí's most amazing creations are made of wrought iron, often with his own hands.

• In his youth, the architect was a zealous anti-clerical, but then became a staunch Catholic. The architect spent his last years as an ascetic hermit, completely devoting all his strength and energy to creating the immortal Cathedral of the Holy Family, which became the highest embodiment of not only his unique talent, but also his devout faith.
• Gaudí was crushed between two trams on June 7. They say that tram traffic in Barcelona first began on this day, but this is just a beautiful legend.
• The talent of Antoni Gaudí was, of course, widely known in Catalonia - sketches of his folded vaults can be found in the travel album of a very young Le Corbusier. However, Gaudi was truly “discovered” only in 1952, 26 years after his death, when a huge retrospective exhibition of his work took place.
• The famous architect has every chance of becoming the most “avant-garde” saint in the history of the Catholic Church. After all, Sagrada Familia is neo-Gothic only in spirit; only general outlines of the church canons remain in the project.
• Spanish Catholics have repeatedly asked the Pope about the possibility of canonizing Gaudi.

Notes

Literature

• Gaudi. Architect and artist. Author: Rowe D. Publisher: White City, Moscow - 2009;
• Gaudi is the bullfighter of art. Biography. Author: Giz Van Hensbergen (translated from English by Goldberg Yu.);
• Masterpieces of Gaudi. Author: Khvorostukhina S. A.;
• Antonio Gaudi. Author: L. A. Dyakov;
• Antonio Gaudi. Salvador Dali. Author: L. Bonet, C. Montes;
• Antonio Gaudi: A Life in Architecture. Author: Rainer Zerbst;
• Gaudi: Personality and creativity. Author: Bergos J., Bassegoda i Nonnel J., Crippa J. (photographer Llimargas; translated from English by T. M. Kotelnikova);
• Best of Barcelona (album). Publisher: A. Campana; Barcelona (edition in Russian) - 2003;
• Antonio Gaudi // Architects. Biographical Dictionary. Author: Komarova I. I.
• All of Barcelona. Collection "All of Spain". Russian edition. Editorial Escudo de Oro S.A., Barcelona.
• Gaudi. Russian edition. Editorial Escudo de Oro S.A., Barcelona.
• Antonio Gaudi. Author: Bassegoda Nonel X., Trans. from Spanish M. Garcia Ordonez Edited by: V. L. Glazychev. - M.: Stroyizdat, 1986;
• All Gaudi. - Editorial Escudo de Oro, S.A., 2006. - pp. 4-11. - 112 s. - ISBN 84-378-2269-6
• N. Ya. Nadezhdin. Antonio Gaudi: “Castles in the Air of Catalonia”: Biographical Stories. - 2nd ed. - M.: Mayor, Osipenko, 2011. 192 pp., Series “Informal biographies”, 2000 copies, ISBN 978-5-98551-159-8

Links

	Portal "Personalities"
	Portal "Architecture"
	Antonio Gaudi in Wikiquote
	Antoni Gaudí on Wikimedia Commons
	Project "Spain"

Antonio Gaudi: the most mysterious architect in history who worked miracles

We often hear about brilliant musicians, writers, and poets. When applied to architecture, the word “brilliant” is used much less frequently. Perhaps because it is much more difficult to realize such a talent than any other. All the more valuable to history is anyone who managed to replenish the architectural heritage of mankind with creations of unique beauty. The brightest and most mysterious among such geniuses is the Spanish architect Antonio Gaudi - the creator of the legendary Sagrada Familia Cathedral, Palace Guell, Casa Batllo and other unique masterpieces that adorn Barcelona today, making it a truly unique city.

Antonio Gaudi was born in Catalonia in 1852 in the family of the blacksmith Francisco Gaudi i Serra and his wife Antonia Curnet i Bertrand. In the family he was the youngest of five children. After the death of Antonio's mother, two brothers and sister, he settled in Barcelona with his father and niece. Since childhood, Gaudí was very sick; rheumatism prevented him from playing with other children. Instead, he took long walks alone, which he eventually grew to love. It was they who helped him become closer to nature, which throughout his subsequent life inspired the architect to solve the most incredible constructive and artistic problems.

The brilliant architect Antonio Gaudi.

While studying at Catholic college, Antonio was most interested in geometry and drawing. In his free time, he spent time exploring local monasteries. Already in those years, teachers admired the works of the young artist Gaudi. And he said with complete seriousness that his talent was God’s gift. In the process of creating his creations, he often turned to the theme of God, and did not deviate from it even when choosing the artistic aspects of his work. For example, he did not like straight lines, calling them a product of man. But Gaudi adored circles and was convinced of their divine origin. These principles can be clearly seen in all his 18 architectural creations, which today are the pride of Barcelona. They are characterized by a bold combination of materials, textures and colors. Gaudi used his own unsupported floor system, which made it possible not to “cut” the rooms into parts. Repeating his calculations became possible only after NASA created a calculation of the flight trajectories of spacecraft.

The architect’s first buildings were “House of Vicens”, “El Capriccio”, “Pavilion of the Güell Estate”. They differ significantly from each other, however, they are all decorated with a large number of decorative details in the neo-Gothic style.

"Pavilion of the Guell estate."

In general, the architectural style of Antoni Gaudi is phantasmagorical, difficult to define, although the architect was called a genius of modernism. Gaudi was the most prominent representative of his national romantic movement, Catalan modernism. Incredibly, he was not helped by design engineers, he acted on instinct, relying only on his sense of harmony, often improvised and tried to convey his idea to his assistants using drawings on the board. His architectural creations have everything: bizarre structural forms, sculptures, paintings, mosaics, color plastics. They contain people and animals, fantastic creatures, trees, flowers.

Casa Batllo.

Antonio was very handsome, however, in his personal life he was lonely. Of course, he had affairs, but none of them ended in marriage or any kind of serious relationship. In essence, he was married to his creations. Antonio was a quite wealthy man and had the opportunity to rent any housing, but while working on the next project he invariably lived right at the construction site, equipping a small closet for himself, and wore old overalls.

Gaudí's architecture makes Barcelona unique.

This was the case during his work on his favorite and, perhaps, most grandiose creation - the Sagrada Familia Cathedral, the Expiatory Temple of the Holy Family, the construction of which he never had the opportunity to complete. It began in 1882, when Gaudí was 30 years old, and has not been completed to this day. The architect devoted 40 years of his life to this project. And on June 7, 1926, Gaudi left the construction site and disappeared. On the same day, on one of the streets of Barcelona, ​​a poor man was run over by a tram. Only a few days later he was identified as the greatest architect Antonio Gaudi. He found his last refuge in one of the chapels of the Sagrada Familia.

Cathedral of the Sagrada Familia.

During Gaudi's funeral procession, in which probably half the city took part, a mystical thing happened. Many townspeople, among whom were very respected people, claimed that they saw ghosts in the crowd of people who came to say goodbye to the genius. For example, Salvador Dali spoke about this.

In the Sagrada Familia cathedral.

Today, this mystery, which once excited Barcelona, ​​has already become history and the subject of excursions. But there are still people who believe that if you exactly repeat the route of Gaudi’s last journey, you can get a piece of his incredible talent. And we can simply be grateful to the genius for his selfless devotion to art and love for the people to whom he left a priceless architectural heritage.

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