Spanish architect Antonio Gaudi has been mentioned several times in this blog. He worked in Barcelona a century ago, creating sensuous buildings with undulating walls, colorful mosaics, and unconventional spaces. His work is variously categorized as art nouveau, modernist, or uniquely Catalonian. Gaudi's masterwork is the Sagrada Familia basilica. Frank Lloyd Wright dismissed the ornate forms of Sagrada Familia as "architecture with a laxative." I believe Gaudi was the last great Gothic architect: structurally disciplined but unaffected by tradition. View the video at this link to judge for yourself:
God's Architect: Antonio Gaudi's Glorious Vision - 60 Minutes - CBS News. The thirteen minute video reveals the splendor in Gaudi's mind that is gradually being realized after 130 years of construction. It reveals his genius more than is possible with static photographs. Some believe Gaudi's total vision for Sagrada Familia may actually be completed in another thirteen years. But we can already see what God's architect had in mind.
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| One of four main facades at Sagrada Familia. |
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| Columns and ceiling. |
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| Organic engineering. |
Images: R. Munger
