Sagrada Familia

Barcelona, 1883-1926


Eastern facade with birth portal

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Antoní Gaudí , Spain

Do you want to know where I found my inspiration? An upright tree: it bears its branches who bear the twigs who bear the leaves. And every individual part grows in harmony, magnificently, ever since the artist God created it.

For a large part of his life Gaudi worked on the design of the Sagrada Familia. This building therefore mirrors most clearly his development as an architect. The crypt and the choir still show the unmistakable signs of Gothic Revival, forming the stylistic starting point for this design. The Eastern facade, finished already in Gaudi’s time, is characterized by the imaginative and formative richness of design which would make the artist so famous later on.

The biggest surprise however is the nave, for which Gaudi himself still built a few models, but which is only now being finished. Here a wholly new language of form is being revealed, which is completely freed from ornamentation. It derives its expressive force from the doubly curved geometric plane gleaned from nature. This inspired language of nature’s forms is the bearer of a rich Christian symbolism, which comes to expression in the number of towers, the numerous statues and the coloured windows which are presently being worked on.

Antoní Gaudí
SPAIN
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