Gaudi Gaudi Gaudi!

Some of my fondest memories from my Euro-trip a few summers ago was Barcelona and not just for the beaches. Gaudi was an amazing artist of his time and used the city as his canvas to create art. I was able to see many of Gaudi’s creations, my favorite being Gaudi Park which overlooks the whole city. Lola Akinmade, an author for GoNOMAD visited this crazy city and wrote an article all about Gaudi and his masterpieces. Read below for more from “Tracing Gaudí around Barcelona”

While many artists remain content displaying their masterpieces in galleries and museums, one of Spain’s most profilic and world renowned artists, Antonio Gaudí, made the entire city of Barcelona his living, breathing museum with instantly recognizable landmarks – series of twisting structures, colorful tiles and mosaics, and undulating patterns.

“Send Gaudi and the Sagrada Familia to Hell,” Pablo Picasso once wrote in a letter to a friend at the turn of the twentieth century. The profound artist was said to have disliked Gaudi’s work.

A staunch Catholic, Gaudí designed Sagrada Familia to have eighteen towers; 12 representing the apostles of Christ, four for the evangelists, one for Mary, mother of Christ and the last for Jesus himself.

Completed in 1900 for industrialist Count Eusebi Güell, Park Güell was intended to provide garden-like solace for the count and support sixty luxury plots for houses, boasting beautiful views of the city.

In the end, only two houses were constructed, and when one was up for sale, Gaudí purchased it and moved in with his family.

Now a city park, at the main entrance to Park Güell is a bench formed as a colorfully tiled sea serpent or dragon. In 2007, the dragon was vandalized by a group of youths but has since been restored.

Colorful mosaics, stone structures, motifs of Catalan culture, as well as mystic elemental designs were integrated into the overall design of the park.

To learn more about Gaudi, visit GoNOMAD