Gaudí: The Genius, the Saint, and the Man Who Faced Adversity with a Pure Heart
“For Gaudí, the importance of the small is also great, because he used to say that to do things well, one must first love them and then apply the technique.”
José Manuel Almuzara analyzes the life, work, and spirituality of Antoni Gaudí, from his childhood marked by illness and loss, to his consecration as the faith’s most influential architect. Discover how nature, adversity, and Providence shaped the character of this genius.
The writer for almuzara.org, José Manuel Almuzara, was interviewed by Venancio to discuss the figure of Antoni Gaudí. The bond between the two originated sixteen years ago at the Colegio de las Teresianas in Barcelona, a fundamental work by the architect. This friendship has remained strong due to a shared interest in the life, thought, and the material and spiritual work of the Servant of God. Almuzara began by revealing the profound symbolism behind the architect’s name: Antonio, the one who faces adversity, and Cornet, the pure heart.
Gaudí’s childhood was marked by illness, suffering from rheumatism that prevented him from attending school regularly. Instead, his mother would take him by donkey near Reus, where the young Antoni discovered the wonder of Creation. Nature became his great teacher, and from it, he extracted the laws that he would later apply in his architecture. Furthermore, in the coppersmith workshop of his parents and grandparents, he learned to transform two-dimensional sheets into three-dimensional objects, prioritizing the use of models in his future work.
“Elías Rogent said upon granting him the degree: I do not know if I am giving the degree to a madman or a genius. I would now say that he is a genius and a possible saint.”
After studying at the Escolapios in Reus, Gaudí moved to an effervescent Barcelona to study architecture, although his academic record was irregular. Despite the ups and downs, he graduated at the age of 26, at which point the director Elías Rogent doubted whether he was granting the degree to a madman or a genius. His career took off in 1878 when his display case at the Paris Universal Exhibition attracted the attention of Eusebio Güell. Güell, Gaudí’s great patron, commissioned key projects from him, such as the Palacio Güell and the Parque Güell, and put him in contact with the Catalan bourgeoisie.
Gaudí’s personal life was marked by adversity and loss, as he lost his mother and his four siblings in a short period. This situation forced him to take charge of his father and his niece, Rosita, tempering his character and making him a responsible man. Faith was manifested throughout his work, even in civil projects like Casa Batlló, which incorporates a cross with four arms oriented toward the cardinal points. Likewise, at the Colegio de las Teresianas, he studied the Seven Mansions of Saint Teresa of Jesus to facilitate the nuns’ vocation through architecture.
“For Gaudí, architecture is not only functional and aesthetic, but it is also a system of signs, a system of symbols that carries a message.”
Always maintaining the sense that the small is great, Gaudí left a legacy of seven World Heritage buildings, and is today considered a genius and a possible saint whose work facilitates the encounter with the divine.