Antoni Gaudí. Jeremy Roe
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their youthful spirits were captured by the monastic ideal with art, life and pleasure as guiding principles, rather than by the restoration of Catholic tradition. It is worth noting that the Manuscrito de Poblet records the first known drawing by Gaudí of the heraldic shield of Poblet, which was produced in 1870.
In the 1930s Toda would return and lead the restoration of this monastery, but by that time Gaudí had been dead for four years. The intervening years had been spent by Gaudí not simply in imaginative restorations of the ruins, but in a creative and innovative interpretation of the architectural language of the past, as well as its values. It was as a student in Barcelona that this artistic process was initiated in earnest.
7. Student Drawing of Lake Pier.
Architectural Studies in Barcelona
Gaudí’s life in Barcelona began in the autumn of 1868. His elder brother, Francesc, was already there by then, studying medicine. During his first year he completed the final two compulsory courses of his secondary education at the Instituto de Jaume Baulmes. However, one may also assume that he spent considerable time discovering Barcelona’s architecture, both old and new. The following year Gaudí, aged 17, enrolled in the Science Faculty at the University of Barcelona. The five-year course that he attended covered various branches of mathematics as well as chemistry, physics and geography. His university results offer one means to measure Gaudí’s intellectual ability.
He passed, although had to retake his final year before entering the School of Architecture in 1874. Testimony from fellow students records his commitment to study, yet also the difficulties he encountered especially in theoretical subjects such as geometry. The image of the student Gaudí that emerges from his biographers is a thinker who relished work in a practical context, but found theoretical and abstract principles both challenging and tedious. Gaudí’s practical approach to solving complex architectonic problems, as opposed to drawing on mathematical solutions, is notable in his mature work, when he would employ models to develop his ideas.
However, Gaudí’s mind was not only scientific. Prior to being accepted at the School of Architecture he had to prove himself at both architectural and life drawing. While no less was to be expected of an architecture student he also passed the school’s French language test. He clearly had some ability in languages as well as literature. In the course of his life he mastered German and was an avid reader of Goethe’s poetry, much of which he knew by heart! Thus the profile offered by Gaudí’s academic record reveals a broad range of abilities. Perhaps more important is that these were accompanied by an avid enthusiasm for learning, in particular with regard to his chosen discipline. Study in the School of Architecture was structured firstly through academic courses in drawing skills for preparing architectural plans and designs and in gaining a knowledge of building materials. In conjunction with these taught courses students also put their work into practice. Between 1874 and 1875 Gaudí’s projects included the design for a candelabrum, a water tower and, most notably, a cemetery gate. The following year his studies were interrupted by conscription to the army. Although Gaudí was decorated for his defence of the nation it seems he did not actually see action. The following year his projects were more taxing, having to design a patio for local government offices as well as a pavilion for the Spanish exhibit at one of the many grand international exhibitions that took place in Philadelphia. In the course of his student career he would also work on a shrine for the Virgin of Montserrat, designs for a hospital, a boating lake, a fountain and a holiday chalet. Having carried out this range of designs, Gaudí was trained to work from the small scale to the monumental, as well as being prepared to satisfy the different demands of potential clients, from institutional to ecclesiastical buildings and public to private spaces.
8. Park Güell, Columns.
As this range of work testifies, Gaudí’s student years were both an extremely hard-working and productive period. Of the few graphic and design works that have survived until today a number were part of his student projects. Although these works demonstrate his affiliation with the principles and ideas of his teachers, which are discussed in the following chapter, they mark the start of his career and highlight the dramatic changes he introduced into the practice of architecture.
Despite the classical simplicity of the 1875 design for Gaudí’s cemetery-gate project, it is interesting to note the integration of sculptures and ironwork which would become central features of his later work. Six angels line the sides of the archway, the two iron gates meet at a sculptural group of the Crucifixion with the Virgin and St. John the Baptist. Above, in the centre of the arch, is the figure of Christ as Judge of mankind and crowning the structure is the enthroned figure of God. Combined with other elements Gaudí created an iconographic programme based on the book of Revelation, the last book of the bible which recounts the mystical and eschatological visions of St. John the Evangelist. The addition of the flaming beacons on the four corners and what appears to be a censer, for incense, signal his interest in effects of light and organic forms of flame and smoke. Gaudí failed his assignment for this design as its descriptive setting was not considered the correct procedure for an architect!
Gaudí’s skills as a draughtsman are remarkable, and Gaudí’s teachers did recognise this even though they questioned some of his techniques. In his course of studies he was awarded an honour grade and was thus eligible to compete for a school prize. The project he entered for the competition was an elaborate lakeside pier, with steps to the water to board pleasure boats. It combines an elegant yet elaborate arcade of Gothic arches above which rise two cylindrical towers. The lakeside promenade is decorated with sculptures stood on pedestals, which are linked by a wrought-iron balustrade. Out of recognition of his teachers’ strictures on the principles of drawing, the references to reality are almost all but eliminated: faint touches of watercolour evoke the lake’s surface and a boat comes into dock. Closer study reveals the wealth of detail with which Gaudí imagined this building.
Such attention to detail reveals the dedication of the young trainee architect, and the pressure of Gaudí’s workload during this period was added to by the need to support his studies by working for a number of architectural practices. Despite the challenges this must have posed, not to mention the emotional strain of the deaths of both his mother and elder brother, all of which he overcame through pure hard work, he finally qualified as an architect in 1878. However, there was a dispute between the lecturers over his qualification, which may signal that his excessive workload distracted him from his studies.
On announcing to Gaudí his graduation Rogent, the director of the School of Architecture, declared, “Gentlemen, we are here today either in the presence of a genius or a madman!” A disgruntled Gaudí is recorded as answering, “So now it appears I am an architect.” It is interesting to note that the notion of genius was applied so early to Gaudí and his work, yet it is unfortunate that there is not sufficient evidence to identify why Gaudí was judged as departing from the norm established by his lecturers and followed by his peers. None the less, as Gaudí’s attitudes to authority later in his career indicate, his personality was marked by a highly confident belief in himself and his work.
9. Casa Milà, Detail of inside roof timbers.
10. Finca Güell, Decorative relief on the wall.
Gaudí’s Character and Thought
However, Gaudí’s belligerence is one dimension of his character, and while it indicates his sense of self-worth it tells us less about his architecture. One of the defining aspects of Gaudí’s style is his imaginative response to the forms and styles of architectural traditions. Through juxtaposition, transformation and reinvention he would employ architectural motifs and styles in original and creative ways in his mature work.
The School of Architecture provided an intellectual and ideological context for Gaudí to begin thinking along these lines, in terms of the latest theories of architectural practice. These themes provide a key perspective to understanding the