Gaudí

Gaud’s ravishing symbiosis between built environment and natural world. From the towering Sagrada Famlia to the shimmering, textured faade of Casa Batll and the enchanting landscape of Park Gell, it’s easy to see why Antoni Gaud (1852–1926) gained the epithet God’s architect. With fluid forms and mathematical precision, his work extols the wonder of natural creation: columns soar like tree trunks, window frames curve like flowering branches, and ceramic tiling shimmers like scaly, reptilian skin. With this outstanding attention to natural detail, his inspirations from both neo-Gothic and Orientalist aesthetics, and a lifelong commitment to Catalan identity, Gaud created a unique brand of the Modernista movement which transformed, and defines, Barcelona’s cityscape.