Gaudí i Cornet, Antonio

Gaudí i Cornet, Antonio (äntô`nyō goudē` ē kōr`nĕt), 1852–1926, Spanish architect. Working mainly in Barcelona, he created startling new architectural forms that paralleled the stylistic development of art nouveau or modernismo. Many of his buildings resemble sculptural configurations; examples are the bizarre structures in the Park Güell (1900–1914) and the undulating facades of the Casa Battló (1905–7) and the Casa Milá (1905–10). Gaudí also introduced color into his facades. Improvising designs from odd bits of material, such as rubble, bricks, and polychrome tiles, he achieved variegated effects, evoking comparisons to abstract expressionism and surrealism. Gaudí is as remarkable for his innovations in technology as for his aesthetic audacity. He ingeniously constructed various devices that enabled him to achieve his unusual building shapes; he is particularly admired for his use of the hyperbolic paraboloid form. The Expiatory Church of the Holy Family (begun 1882) represents the height of Gaudí's achievements. It was never completed, and work continues on the structure.

Bibliography

See biography by G. van Hensbergen (2001); G. R. Collins A Bibliography of Gaudí and the Catalan Movement (1973). See also studies by J. Bergós (1947, tr. 1999); G. Collins (1970), C. Martinelli (1982), G. Sterner (1985), and J. Rohrer et al. (1988).