What are 3 facts about Antoni Gaudi?

Answer 1

There are many interesting - and strange - facts about the architect, sculptor and designer, Antonio Gaudi, but I've tried to list three, here, that I think might be most representative of this artist.

1 -- Like most artists in their early study, Gaudi was strongly influenced by others' work at first -- especially one other architect whose work was in the Gothic style. Eventually, though, he discovered his own, unique style, which, though classified as "Art Nouveau" is quite unlike any other work I've ever seen before. So even though he began like many artists do, influenced by others, his vision was already so distinct that on his graduation, when presented with his degree in architecture, it was announced of him: "Who knows if we have given this diploma to a nut or to a genius. Time will tell."

2 -- Gaudi was very much influenced by nature. As a child growing up in the Catalonia region of Spain, he suffered from rheumatic fever and had a lot of time alone and in nature, where he spent hours observing and learning about the natural world. In his designs as an artist, rather than using geometrical shapes, he liked to use the model of a standing man as an approach to shape and contour. Much of his building is what is considered biomorphic. He had no hesitance in bending steel to curve into natural, rather than straight, angled shapes.

If you're ever in Barcelona, I highly recommend visiting 1) Park Güell, which is cheerful and peaceful at the same time, an amazing place in the city you can go through for free -- his mosaic work is especially enchanting here, using found pieces of old dishes and other ceramic shards. 2) Gaudi's home, beside the park, "la Torre Rosa," which contains some very cool furniture he designed, though there is a fee for entry -- and 3) if at all possible, at least a walk by, and around, the amazing apartment building, the Casa Milà, which is biomorphic, and now has Gaudi rooftop statues. Currently, you can take a free tour of the first floor, and going to the second floor and on up to see the rooftop Gaudi statues requires a fee. When I walked by the building in the 70s, I was told there were people who lived in it, though it was in such disrepair that much of it was without Plumbing.

3 - Gaudi's masterwork, La Sagrada Família, also in Barcelona, is a cathedral he was never able to complete. Early this year, in 1910, it was slated to be completed in 2026, the 100th anniversary of Gaudi's death. Late in life, Gaudi had a difficult stream of experiences -- mostly involving the death of close family members, a close collaborator, and his major patron. After all this happened, he shied away from the people of Spain, who loved him, and spent his last two years of life in the crypt of this cathedral he was working on. Then one day, he was run over by a city tram. No one would pick him up, thinking he looked like a beggar who'd not be able to pay them for taking him to get help, but he was finally taken to a hospital for the indigent. His friends found out where he was the next day, and wanted to move him to a nicer hospital, but he told them he preferred to die among the poor. Two days later, when he passed, half of Barcelona mourned together in his death. He was actually buried in the deepest part of the crypt of La Sagrada Familia.

This answer written by Lydianell (I was not signed in when I first answered this question, and it's not being atributed to me.)