History of Interior Design II: Antoni Gaudi (Art Nouveau)

Antoni Gaudi was born on June 25, 1852 in provincial Catalonia on the Mediterranean coast of Spain. Gaudi showed interest in architecture at an early age and he began schooling in Barcelona in 1870, however, is studies were interrupted by military service and he did not graduate until 1878 from the Provincial School of Architecture. After graduating, Guadi's work was heavily influenced by Victorian design, however, he quickly developed his own style consisting of geometric masses and animated surfaces with patterned brick, stone, and ceramic and floral or reptilian metal work. An example of this style is The salamander in Park Guell:

During his early period, at the Paris World's Fair of 1878, Gaudi displayed a showcase which impressed patron enough to lead to Gaudi's being commissioned on the Guell Palace and Estate in Barcelona. Built between 1886 and 1890, this Palace was completed by the time Gaudi was 38 years old. It was home to the Guell family for twenty years and used as both a home to this family as well as a place for social gatherings and when the Spanish Civil war began it was converted into a Police Station and then later became home to the Theatre Institute.

One of his most famous works was his refurbishment of Casa Batllo in 1904. In his refurbishment, Gaudi added two new story's and designed a new exterior consisting of mosaic fragments of glass and ceramic disks to form a dragons back. The main floor of the building was home to the Batllo family a d it contained the large lounge with views overlooking Passeig De Gracia and is characterized by a long gallery with leaded windows and the woodwork in its interior. As inspiration Gaudi used colors a d shapes found in marine life and spent time on his designs to consider things such as varying window sizes depending on how height the window is from the top of the building to ensure uniform lighting conditions in each room in the building.

After 1910, Gaudi abandoned all of his work to focus on the Sagrada Familia, also known as 'cathedral for the poor,' which he had begun in 1883. For the final 12 years of his life, Guadi's main concentrated mainly on dedicating himself to prayer, long periods of fasting and to the construction of this Cathedral. While this building is now a popular tourist spot in Barcelona, it wasn't always popular with the citizens of the city. In July of 1936, a group of revolutionaries broke into the crypt and destroyed Guadi's original plans, drawings and plaster models. It took 16 years before they were able to piece just the model back together again.

Gaudi worked on this Cathedra until his death on June 10, 1926. He died after getting hit by a trolley car in Barcelona a few weeks before his 74th birthday. He was buried in the chapel of our Lady of Mount Carmel in the crypt of Sagrada Familia. To this day, Sagrada Familia remains unfished and has a projected completion date of 2026, to mark the 100th anniversary of Gaudi's death.

This video shows what the additions that needed to be added to the building before it is considered complete: