Spanish Artists

Spanish Artists
  • Diego Velázquez
  • Francisco Goya
  • El Greco
  • Pablo Picasso
  • Salvador Dalí
  • Antoni Gaudí
  • Joan Miró
  • Juan Gris
  • Gil de Siloé
  • Diego de Siloé
  • Alonso Berruguete
  • Jaume Huguet
  • Ferrer Bassa
  • José Churriguera
  • Francisco de Zurbarán

Antoni Gaudí (1852 - 1926)

Gaudí's legacy in Barcelona is not likely to fade, given the bizarre and quirky creations he left behind to be marveled at. His architectural style combined Art Nouveau elements with neo-Gothic features and also used typically Cubist and Surrealist characteristic. Son of a coppersmith, this Spanish architect was born in Reus, in the province of Tarragona in 1852.

He received his firts formal training in architecture at the Escola Superior d'Arquitectura in Barcelona (Barcelona School of Architecture) which he attended for four years. During his time as a student he was already involved in architectural projects and his first major commission involved the Casa Vincens in Barcelona. Here he used the Gothic Revival style, which would later appear throughout his future work.

Later on, under patronage of Eusebio Güell, an influential industrialist, Gaudí was able to realize many important commissions, most of which are standing today. Some of the most famous include the Palacio Güell, the Sagrada Familia which he worked on for 43 years of his life and which remained unfinished at the time of his death, the Palacio de Astorga and the bizarre Park Güell (1900-1914), a sort of garden-city with stone trees and mosaics of broken ceramic tile set in concrete. He was even requested to build a New York Hotel.

Gaudí's style is totally unique, and nobody has managed to rival his creativity in this sense ever since. His stone and iron structures defy all traditional principles of balance and logic, creating wavy, rounded and irregular shapes.

An avid supporter of Catalan nationalism, Gaudí continued working on his constructions until his death in Barcelona in 1926.