The facade of the Sagrada Familia basilica in Barcelona, captured in a 1975 photograph, stands as a testament to the enduring legacy of Antoni Gaudí. On 23 July 1983, a retrospective explored the 100-year history of Barcelona’s ‘cathedral for the poor,’ as faithful line the streets today for Pope Leo to bless the Sagrada Família on the centenary of Gaudí’s death.
Controversial Masterpiece
George Orwell famously called it “one of the most hideous buildings in the world” and criticized Spanish anarchists for not destroying it during the civil war. In contrast, Salvador Dalí praised Gaudí’s “supremely creative bad taste” and suggested the building was unfinishable “at least until a new genius appears.”
Gaudí’s Vision
The architect was Antoni Gaudí, and the building is Barcelona’s modern cathedral. The first stone of the Sagrada Família was laid in 1882, and it may take as long again to complete. Gaudí’s inspired work on the cathedral, spanning 50 years until his death in 1926, contrasts sharply with the technocratic designs of today’s public buildings.
Gaudí was an architect of extraordinary inventiveness, equally artist, sculptor, engineer, and builder. Despite attempts to link him to movements like Gothic revival, art nouveau, or surrealism, the Sagrada Família defies academic classification. Architectural historians often struggle to assess Gaudí’s astonishing individuality and disregard for conventional taste.
Early Life and Commission
Son of a Catalan coppersmith, Gaudí began studies in Barcelona at age 20. His early work impressed the Spiritual Association of St Joseph, leading to his commission for the Sagrada Família. From the start, Gaudí intended the cathedral to be a work of generations, with construction following the fitful fortunes of fundraising.
Initially a dandy and socialite, Gaudí later retreated into his work, focusing on the Sagrada Família. For the last 12 years of his life, he lived on the construction site, adopting an ascetic routine. He often fasted, wore the same scruffy suit, and was sometimes mistaken for a beggar. He refused payment for his work on the cathedral and personally solicited funds when needed.
Design and Inspiration
Gaudí left few drawings or writings, constantly modifying his plans and working from models. His writings reveal the intense importance of the Mediterranean landscape. The brilliant blue sky, bright light of Catalonia, red earth, dark green foliage, and gnarled vines all influenced his structures and colours.
“Let us think what it means to be Mediterranean,” he said. “It means we are equidistant from the blinding light of the tropics and the northern lack of light which creates ghosts. We are brothers of the Italians, making us more apt for creative work.”
Gaudí looked to nature for structural solutions and design inspiration. The bell towers, resembling hock bottles according to Orwell, mirror spiral cones of sea snails. Dalí described his architecture as “a tactile erogenous zone which bristles like a sea-urchin.”
Almost every plant and animal appears in some form on the cathedral. Serpents, whelks, and clams serve as gargoyles; two massive stone chameleons flank the Portal of Nativity; Nile turtles, pelicans, and other creatures adorn intricate biblical scenes.
Colour and Completion
Gaudí’s use of colour was as adventurous as his structural design. He wanted the cathedral to sparkle with coloured glass, and the bell towers feature dazzling ceramic mosaics. However, future architects may lack the courage to polychrome the entire eastern facade as Gaudí intended.
Federico Garcia Lorca described the power of the Sagrada Família, telling Dalí he heard “a veritable din of sonorous cries of such loudness that they became increasingly more strident in proportion to the facade’s heaven-ward climb, blending with angels’ trumpets into a glorious hullabaloo.” One can only imagine Lorca’s reaction had Gaudí surmounted the bell towers with angels whose wings flapped in the wind.
Though the Sagrada Família dominates the city skyline, it is scarcely half complete. The central tower, yet to be built, will reach 580 feet high. Gaudí dreamed it would soar so high that clouds and birds would pass beneath its roof. Eventually, 13,000 people may worship in the cathedral, though likely not in the stone pews Gaudí designed to discourage crossing legs.
Legacy
Gaudí’s importance extends beyond his Barcelona buildings. He affirmed the architect as artist and craftsman, against prevailing trends. He might have agreed with John Ruskin that “the architect who was not a sculptor, or a painter, was nothing better than a frame-maker on a large scale.” The intense pride Barcelonans hold for the Sagrada Família is his posthumous reward for caring how the public would view his work.
He conceived the Sagrada Família as a “cathedral of the poor,” with symbolism accessible to the illiterate, capable of inspiring faith through hardship. Those who use it, with regular services in the crypt, would like to see it finished. Meanwhile, the phrase “doing a Sagrada Família” has come to mean taking forever to do something.
