Who was Antoni Gaudí? The biography of the mysterious Catalan genius offers many surprises!

There is no more famous name associated with Barcelona than Antoni Gaudí. This a genius architect with a huge amount of imagination and with a specific handwriting, during his life he imprinted an unmistakable character on the city, which can be seen almost at every step.

How did Gaudí become Gaudí?

Antoni Gaudí was born in 1852 Reus u Tarragona on South Catalonia. He had from a young age a very positive relationship with nature and at school he excelled mainly in geometry.

Quite possibly, it was these two things that influenced his future and gave him a specific way of seeing the world.

In 1869, Gaudí moved from his hometown to Barcelona together with his brother, where he began studying at the Faculty of Natural Sciences. Already during his studies, he was fascinated by architecture, therefore, after passing all the prescribed exams at the Faculty of Science, he continued there. 

Sagrada Família, Gaudi's most famous work in Barcelona

His can be considered the absolutely key moment in Gaudí's life meeting with mobile industrialist Eusebi Güell, who became his patron and with whose contribution most of his well-known works were created. Of these we can name, for example Palace Güell or Park Guell.

Gaudí and Güell fell in love at the beginning of their long-term collaboration and soon became very close friends for several decades. During that time, Güell helped Gaudi financially and by brokering architectural commissions.

Gaudí's footprint on the UNESCO list

Since 1984, a total of seven of Gaudi's creations have been added to the UNESCO World Heritage List. To visit them, get a card Barcelona Card Modernist and you can save quite a bit of money!

1. Casa Vicens in 1884–1885
2. Palace Güell (Palau Güell) in 1885–1889
3. A crypt in Colony Güell in 1898–1916
4. Casa Batlló in 1905–1907
5. Casa Milà (La Pedrera) in 1905–1907
6. Park Güell in 1900–1914
7. Sagrada Família - construction has been going on since 1884

Read more in my article 9 Gaudi buildings you must see in Barcelona

Like most brilliant artists, i Gaudí ended up almost forgotten in his time – died in June 1926 aged 73 when he was hit by a tram. After this accident, he found himself in a hospital for the poor, as no one recognized the famous architect, and only three days later, when Gaudí passed away, it became clear that it was him.

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Casa Batlló, Gaudi's house with balconies resembling dragons

Gaudi's style is hard to miss!

Today, Antoni Gaudi is considered one of the founders Catalan modernism.

Gaudi's style and work are best described by a statement he once made: "The straight line belongs to man, the curve to God." That's why all his works look like they are from another world, and at first you'll just stare at them with your mouth open...

My top 4 Gaudí buildings in Barcelona

If you want to perceive Gaudi's unmistakable style at least a little, here is my recommendation for the top 4 most interesting buildings for tourists from my point of view: 

1. Sagrada Família – there is nothing to discuss here, Gaudí's masterpiece! 
2. Casa Milà – an unusual house with round shapes and lots of details
3. Casa Batlló – the "dragon house" with a facade full of Gaudí mosaics
4. Casa Vicens – the very first and not very well-known Gaudi building, which will make you realize how the architect's style has evolved over the years

The genius of this architect lies primarily in his innovative approach to design and technology, which I will give them by where he came from and what he studied. In his work, he tried to connect engineering, represented by infallible logic, together with an unprecedented imagination based mainly on nature and the world around us. 

Gaudi loved organic shapes and was often inspired by nature

His buildings are often built using a combination of reinforced concrete and natural materials such as stone and ceramics, the means through which he achieved organic shapes and structures.

The facades of his buildings are often decorated with distinctive reliefs, which resemble various natural motifs. Gaudí's colorful mosaics are characteristic, making his works extremely visually rich. However, due to the rounded shapes of his buildings, they are different from what everyone knew before. Gaudi's style was unique in that he used broken tiles, glass or ceramic shards. In addition, these often came from other buildings, and Gaudí was rumored to have collected them from the garbage at night. The designation was adopted for this style trencadis (from Catalan trencar = to break).

If there is another element that characterizes Gaudi's style, it is the mosaics (trencadís). 

Gaudi also paid special attention to lighting, as he was aware of how much influence light can have on the tone of his buildings - both from the outside and from the inside. Every detail in his work has its own meaning and serves an aesthetic as well as a functional purpose. This is the aspect of his work that you will realize the most when you visit Sagrada Família, where thanks to the colored glasses used, the atmosphere in the morning is completely different from that in the afternoon.

Colorfully decorated Sagrada Família it stands out most at the so-called golden hour, when light penetrates through windows and decorated stained glass windows

Although Gaudí's works were created at a time when Art Nouveau was at its peak everywhere in Europe, thanks to his distinctive style, Gaudí and many of his companions from that time are placed in a separate box of Catalan modernism. And no matter what you call Gaudi's style, it cannot be denied that he is one of the most ingenious architects of all time.

Do you love architecture and want to see the best buildings?

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His contribution not only to the Spanish but also to the worldwide architectural community is indisputable. It is only thanks to him that Barcelona has its own style and genius loci. And even if you're not into architecture, you definitely are during a tour Barcelona monuments you must not miss at least his most famous work: the temple of the Holy Family, or Sagrada Familia. Your visit to the city would not be complete without it!