This was most enjoyable. A favorite. I learned so much and the images are wonderful. Also, I've been reading your writing for a little while and you consistently knock it out of the park. I may not comment much but that's mostly because I am at a loss for words. Anyway, I thought I'd leave a comment this time.
I am totally out of my depth commenting on art history, but I love Gaudí's work. I'm not religious and rarely want to be in a church, and yet I still found the Sagrada Familia awe-inspiring. Casa Batlló, however, is one of my favorite places I've ever been in my life. The lack of religious iconography and seeming oneness with nature spoke far more to me. I have a picture I took of it on my wall, and I think about it often, more than a decade after I visited.
I really liked reading here about the others who he influenced. It's sometimes seemed to me like he was so original, innovative, and talented that any attempt to copy him comes off as a very bad facsimile. It's almost like he was too good to create a movement, because he was a whole movement unto himself, and anyone else's attempt would fall short, instead of building on it. It seems like that's part of the problem with attempts to "finish" his legacy, simply because... we can't.
Maybe moreso, seeing his work I feel like our world has gone a completely different direction. We have a hyperfocus on measuring, and quantification, and "efficiency," and it feels like we've lost so much in that. And it's not that his work didn't involving measuring, often carefully, or that it wasn't built with efficiency, as you note the many ways it was. It just feels more like he didn't make that the ONLY intent, and so much more came of it because of that.
I think you’ve captured something essential about Gaudí. His genius was not just in the forms he created, but in the way he allowed nature, light, and spirit (in the broadest sense) to shape his work. Even for those who don’t connect with religious iconography, his works have this ability to move people on a visceral level, because they speak to something universal....rhythm, harmony, and organic beauty.
You’re absolutely right that Gaudí was so singular that attempts to imitate him often feel hollow. He was deeply rooted in Catalan Modernisme, but he took its principles so far beyond the movement that he really did become, as you said, “a whole movement unto himself.” That’s part of why his unfinished work feels so untouchable.... it isn’t just about bricks and mortar, but about a philosophy of building that is very hard to replicate without him.
Gaudí measured and engineered with precision, but he never let efficiency or calculation overwhelm imagination. In our current world, where utility so often trumps beauty, his architecture reminds us that when design embraces wonder, inefficiency in the best sense can become transcendence.
This was most enjoyable. A favorite. I learned so much and the images are wonderful. Also, I've been reading your writing for a little while and you consistently knock it out of the park. I may not comment much but that's mostly because I am at a loss for words. Anyway, I thought I'd leave a comment this time.
Thank you so much for the kind words and taking the time to comment. You have no idea how much it means to me. Grateful 🙏🏼
I am totally out of my depth commenting on art history, but I love Gaudí's work. I'm not religious and rarely want to be in a church, and yet I still found the Sagrada Familia awe-inspiring. Casa Batlló, however, is one of my favorite places I've ever been in my life. The lack of religious iconography and seeming oneness with nature spoke far more to me. I have a picture I took of it on my wall, and I think about it often, more than a decade after I visited.
I really liked reading here about the others who he influenced. It's sometimes seemed to me like he was so original, innovative, and talented that any attempt to copy him comes off as a very bad facsimile. It's almost like he was too good to create a movement, because he was a whole movement unto himself, and anyone else's attempt would fall short, instead of building on it. It seems like that's part of the problem with attempts to "finish" his legacy, simply because... we can't.
Maybe moreso, seeing his work I feel like our world has gone a completely different direction. We have a hyperfocus on measuring, and quantification, and "efficiency," and it feels like we've lost so much in that. And it's not that his work didn't involving measuring, often carefully, or that it wasn't built with efficiency, as you note the many ways it was. It just feels more like he didn't make that the ONLY intent, and so much more came of it because of that.
I think you’ve captured something essential about Gaudí. His genius was not just in the forms he created, but in the way he allowed nature, light, and spirit (in the broadest sense) to shape his work. Even for those who don’t connect with religious iconography, his works have this ability to move people on a visceral level, because they speak to something universal....rhythm, harmony, and organic beauty.
You’re absolutely right that Gaudí was so singular that attempts to imitate him often feel hollow. He was deeply rooted in Catalan Modernisme, but he took its principles so far beyond the movement that he really did become, as you said, “a whole movement unto himself.” That’s part of why his unfinished work feels so untouchable.... it isn’t just about bricks and mortar, but about a philosophy of building that is very hard to replicate without him.
Gaudí measured and engineered with precision, but he never let efficiency or calculation overwhelm imagination. In our current world, where utility so often trumps beauty, his architecture reminds us that when design embraces wonder, inefficiency in the best sense can become transcendence.