Antoni Gaudí: A Wonderful Architect

Antoni Gaudí was more than an architect. He was an artist who left reliable evidence of his ingenuity and sensitivity in each of his works. His style is unique and unmistakable. That is one of the reasons why many of his works are currently on the UNESCO World Heritage List.

Gaudí had three great passions: nature, art and religion. He devoted the best of his talent and ability to these three things. He basically had no social life anymore, as he devoted himself completely to his work and beliefs.

Although his special way of looking at architecture was highly valued in his time, people only really started to appreciate him after his death. Today he is known as one of the most important architects of all time. Not only that, but many people study his work.

Antoni Gaudí, a silent child

One of the most remarkable things in Antoni Gaudí’s life was that he was born into an artisan family. The five generations before him made copper products. His father and his two grandparents, for example, made boilers. That is, they made barrels for the distillation of grapes in Tarragona, Spain.

Gaudí often pointed out that the visions of these fantastic objects originated during his childhood. Being close to his family taught him to see the world as three-dimensional. For him, all hard materials and large objects were malleable. He later applied this unique concept to his designs.

It is not known whether Antoni Gaudí was born in Reus or in Riudoms. He himself claimed to come sometimes from one place and sometimes from another, and did so throughout his life.

What we do know is his date of birth: June 25, 1852. We also know that his health was so fragile that his parents decided to baptize him into the Catholic Church right after he was born, mainly because they thought he would die.

He was also a really sick child. Because of this, he became an introvert and loved to study nature. His architectural designs always imitated organic things found in nature. For example, he preferred the curves of the real world to the straight lines of the blueprints. All this led to his unmistakable style.

A different kind of architect

After his family moved to Barcelona, ​​Antoni Gaudí entered the university there in 1874 to study architecture. In the same year he developed his first designs and immersed himself in the study of the architectural works of different cultures.

In 1876 his mother and his brother died. She was 57 years old and his brother was only 25 years old. The latter had recently graduated as a doctor. The double tragedy was a heavy blow to Gaudí. It also forced him to work part-time as a technical draftsman in order to complete his education.

Three years later, Rosa, his only living sister, also died. Gaudí took over the care of her daughter after her death. That same year, he met the entrepreneur Eusebi Güell, who later became his great friend and patron. Gaudí thus became more and more popular.

Bad luck and success

Antoni Gaudí loved only one woman throughout his life. Her name was Pepeta Moreu. She was an embroiderer, who wrote to him that the banner for the Cooperativa Obrera Mataronense he wanted her to make was too difficult. It was love at first sight.

He has eaten at Pepeta’s house every Sunday since they met. He usually brought Rosa, his little cousin. When he proposed to Pepeta, she turned him down. Antoni Gaudí wasn’t exactly a supermodel either, he was actually quite the opposite. Some people say that Pepeta turned him down because she couldn’t marry a man who had “a mustache full of snot”.

In 1883 he started building his masterpiece: The Basílica de la Sagrada Família in Barcelona. He also became a kind of hermit, and more and more mysterious and religious.

He also became more dedicated than ever to his work. He attended Catholic Mass several times a day and subjected himself to all kinds of gruesome fasting rituals, which endangered his health.

His father’s death affected him deeply, and afterwards his niece, whom he cared for, also died. Even the death of Eusebio Güell, his friend and benefactor, was not spared him.

Antoni Gaudí was hit by a car in 1926. Because he looked like a beggar, the government took him to a charity. He died three days later. Barcelona mourns his death to this day.