Essay About Large Anarchist Independence Movement And New Foreign Movements

Gaudi in Barcelona
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This report discusses Barcelonas famous architect, Antoni Gaudi. It also explores
the intrinsic relationship between the city and the architect. The paper
presents a brief biography of Gaudi and examines the general characteristics,
influences, and styles of his work and creations. The paper describes four of
Gaudis many projects in Barcelona: the Sacred Family (La Sagrada Familia), La
Pedrera (Casa MilД ), La Casa BatllДÑ- and the GДјell Park.
Antoni Gaudi i Cornet was worn in the province of Tarragona in Catalonia in 1852.
At the age of 16 Gaudi left his hometown Reus to join the school of architecture of
Barcelona. At that time Barcelona was a fast-growing city because of the start of its
industry. It was the main city of Catalunya where at the time Gaudi arrived there
was a large anarchist independence movement. Like the followers of this
movement Gaudi loved Catalunya above everything else. For that reason the major
influences on his work were mauresque, oriental and gothic architecture, all of
them traditional Catalonian styles. New foreign movements like the arts and crafts,
impressionism and Art Nouveau were also discussed in the intellectual modernist
society.
Art Nouveau is the movement that influenced Gaudi the most, stimulating him to
experiment with new materials and new shapes, thereby helping him to give up
imitating historical styles and find his own way. The term Art Nouveau is French
and means New Art. It was an extraordinary movement in art history from the end
of the nineteenth century and lasted from about 1880 to 1915. The style is
characterized by using organic, ornamental shapes and patterns and by integrating
all aspects of art and design. The movement had different names in different
languages. In Germany it was called Jugendstil, in Italy Stile Liberty, in Austria
Sezession and in Spain Modernista or Modernismo.
The opportunities afforded by Catalonias socioeconomic and political
environments were endless. Catalonians such as Antoni GaudД­ often showcased the
regions diverse art techniques in their works. By mimicking nature, such artists
symbolically pushed back the provinces ever-increasing industrial society. GaudД­,
among others, promoted the Catalan nationalist movement by incorporating
elements of Catalan culture in his designs.
Almost all of Gaudis buildings were constructed in Barcelona. His early designs
reflect the taste in the late 1800s for color and for peasant or folk traditions. In
Gaudis work, this resulted in the use of colorful tiles of the sort used in moorish
architecture. His best known designs of the early 1900s include two houses, the
Casa Batllo (1905-1907) and the Casa Mila (1905-1910). He also planted a hillside
park called the Park Guell. Gaudis most famous structure is probably the
unfinished Church of the Sagrada Familia.
The Casa BatllДÑ- was build between 1898 and 1904. Happy and harmonic, what
initially had to be just a refurbishment of the faД§ade of the BatllДÑ- family house,
finally happened to be the most poetic and sensitive work of GaudД­. He added to
the project a double loft, the staircase and the interiors decoration. The result was Ð-
and still is- an architectural smile related to Barcelona forever.
GaudД­ worked in The Casa MilД between 1905 and 1910. This big house, built for
Mr. Pere MilД i Camps, is the best example of GaudД­s plastic architecture concept.
Designed with overwhelming imagination and creativity, the Pedrera (“Stone
quarry”, called like this because it looked like a stone quarry) is nowadays another
must of Barcelona.
The GДјell Park was constructed between 1900-1914 and its a lively example of
the best union among nature, urbanism and architecture. Commissioned by Mr.
Eusebi GДјell, the park was originally conceived to be a garden city. From 1922 is a
city municipal park, and has certainly become one of the most emblematic
monuments of the city. Its dragon, at the main entrance stairway, is one of the most
famous sculptures in the world.
If one work is to define Gaudi then surely