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[Music]
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Welcome to Poco Poco. Good morning,
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Tanya.
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Hi. Good morning. Um, today we are going
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to talk about Anthony Gaudy. Very
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exciting. Also known as
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his full name. Do you want me to say his
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full name?
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Do you want to do the full name? I can
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do the full name. I
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I'll try it. Antony Platid GM Gaudi
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Cornet.
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Excellent. Yes. So like a lot of Spanish
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people I think he has a very long name.
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Yes.
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Um but you know affectionately known as
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Anthony Gaudy or just Gaudy as most
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people do.
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Uh a very very very famous Catalan
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Spanish Catalan architect designer and
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I'm sure most of you have as as we have
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seen or at least seen pictures of his
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amazing architecture. But we're going to
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dive in a little bit to his life and how
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he got there and and things like that.
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Yeah. His history. Um he was born in
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1852. So there's a little bit of a
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debate inconsistency as we could say. He
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was born in 1852 either in a town called
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Reyes which is near Terraona
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um in which is just south of Barcelona.
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And that's um his birth certificates and
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documents say he was born in Ryus, but
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apparently
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heated
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thought otherwise.
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He thought otherwise. His grandmother
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must have told him a different story.
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Who knows? But he he he has stated that
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he was born in a town uh named Ryodom. I
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would say that was
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Rudom. Yeah, that sounds I think it's
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very very close. And maybe
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I mean they do birth certificates back
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then and maybe they were just like you
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can only be born in the main town. I
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don't know. So who knows?
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Or he was born in one and raised in the
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other but just considered himself born
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there, right? Who knows?
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Very difficult to know. So that like as
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you all know we're in we're in Valencia.
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If you drive a couple of hours north you
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get to Tarragona Reos and then if you
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drive maybe another hour you get to
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Barcelona. So it's all very he was
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definitely definitely in that area.
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Anyway,
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he's a very Catalonian.
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He definitely is, and they will take
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obviously great credit for for him and
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his works up in Barcelona, which is
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where most of his architecture is. Um,
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we were just up in Ryos, and it's a
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fantastic town. Um, but they I think
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they have a they have a house there, I
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think, that he that he had lived in, but
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other than that, they don't have I mean,
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a lot of his architecture and stuff
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there. like he he moved to Barcelona and
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that's where all of his really famous
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work is.
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Yes. I mean Barcelona is dripping in
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gaudy architecture.
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It really is.
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But Rayus is a lovely town. I highly
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recommend a visit there. Um it was a it
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was a surprising little stop for us and
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we were like, "Oh, this is cool." A
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happening little place. Oh, and we had
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really good ice cream there.
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Oh, I saw you post that on our on our
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reels.
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Yes. It tastes It actually tastes even
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better than it looked.
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Wow. Anyway, off topic as usual.
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Off topic.
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Um, he was the youngest of five children
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and like you said, he was born on the
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25th of June in 1852.
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And
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funnily enough, like I said, he, you
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know, Barcelona was where he moved to,
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but it, not surprisingly, his all of his
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properties and designs and everything
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that he did up there attracts
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20 million visitors to Barcelona each
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year.
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Wow. which is not surprising. I mean
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that is stunning though,
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right? I mean they are I mean they are
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the reasons to go to Barcelona and
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they're and they are everywhere and
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they're awe inspiring. Um what I would
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say is if I could just add this and it's
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almost like they're like they're like
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grown-up sand castles, right? It's just
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like
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they're kind of like freeformed, but
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you've got the shape and you've got like
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all the stuff thrown on and the tiles
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and all of that stuff. So it is very
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it's very whimsical, right? It's very
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whimsical and you can walk by and see
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some of the houses. I will say, you
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know, little bit of a disappointment,
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but I completely understand how it is
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now. It used to be you could just walk
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around the park and and walk around some
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of these places, but now, of course, you
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do need to get tickets to so that they
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can sort of sort of maintain the amount
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of people that are walking through to
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keep it enjoyable for everybody, right?
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Um, and yeah, absolutely stunning. And
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we'll del we'll dive into how he became
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the architect that he is. Um he had
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great pride in his Mediterranean
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heritage and he loved nature. When he
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was 27 he joined something called the
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center excursionista de Cataloonia which
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at the time was an organization that did
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expeditions to explore Catalonia and
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southern France on horseback and on
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foot. So it was obviously that would be
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a big nature kind of experience um at
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that you know for him at that age and
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something that he obviously rather
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enjoyed because nature became a big part
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of the the sort of inspiration for his
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designs.
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Right. Right. And um it it is also known
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that he was he had poor health as a
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child. He had rheumatism and and it it
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it sounds like they put him on a pretty
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weird diet. I mean, who knows what
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medicine was back in the day, but they
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had him on this like vegetarian and like
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and then long fasting um which then like
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led to life-threatening um illnesses. I
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mean, would you want to
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I would imagine I would imagine back
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then they wouldn't have had the
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knowledge to really be a vegetarian
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really successfully and to combine that
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with fasting probably was quite quite
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dangerous but
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rudimentary as they say.
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Yes. In that era. So he was not a
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healthy child and that did in sort of
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have an effect in he as as an adult he
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moved to Barcelona to to study teaching
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in 1868 and he did his compulsory
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military service from 1875 to 1878.
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Okay. and and he he did join the infant
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in infantry regiment but he was
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basically a military administrator but
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even in that capacity he was on sick
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leave like all the time and therefore
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was able to continue his studies. So all
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of that sort of the illnesses that he
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had kept him from also fighting in the
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third carist war which was what would
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have happened during his time in in his
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military career short career that he
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didn't have because he was too sick to
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do anything. So he was basically in the
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military but kind of not in the military
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and carried on studying. So good for us
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because that meant he could continue his
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architectural journey.
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Right. Right. and he had studied at the
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uh Yoja Yo yoja school. I hope I'm
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pronouncing that properly.
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Yo, the no no Yoja. I think we
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pronounced the J. It's Yeah. Yo school.
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Uh and the Barcelona Higher School of
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Architecture and he graduated in 1878.
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He worked as a draftsman for various
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architects to help finance his studies,
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which a job to go through school.
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Yeah. But I think that was interesting
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because you would learn so much as a
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draftsman, right? And it was that was
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something like if you're working doing
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something completely different, but I
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mean being a draftsman was probably
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incredibly boring, but you would have
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learned so much about architecture doing
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that. So to combine
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you learn all the engineering and
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everything. Yeah.
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Yeah. But he in spite of that he was not
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doing very well in his grades. No, he
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wasn't because
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so his he had it the director when he
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gave him the degree basically said we
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have given this academic title either to
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a fool or a genius time will show. So
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they did not have great hope for him at
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that point obviously.
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I guess not. And you know it' be
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interesting to think what the what the
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um what the director thought of his work
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later because it is really not um of
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norm right. It is not it is not
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traditional architecture. So
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it may not considered a genius. Who
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knows? Right. At least the director was
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smart enough to to kind of sort of cover
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his bases, right? And say he's either a
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fool or a genius. We're not quite sure
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yet. So
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right
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as we had said before his his work was
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influenced by his passions of
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architecture and nature and religion and
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he considered all these kind of details
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in his creations and where he combined
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like the crafts like ceramics and
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stained glass and row iron work and you
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know the carpentry of it all right it's
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all kind of like kind of and it's almost
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like kind of thrown together when you
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see there but it's not right but it's it
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like I said like a kids at the sand
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castle, you find the shells and you put
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them on the building and it seems really
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taken.
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It's very Yeah. I mean, if you haven't
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seen any of his work, I mean, it's it
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can be very colorful. It cannot be, but
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I mean, he's using, you know, bits of,
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you know, you know, I'm sure very
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intently placed, you know, tile and
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colorful bits and and it does it looks
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like
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it looks like a really cool imaginary
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drawing actually brought to life like
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that. You couldn't imagine that someone
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could take this drawing and actually
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turn it into a proper piece of
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architecture cuz it's just so different
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and fluid and it kind of reminds me
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a little bit of Salvador Dali in the
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sense that it's just like you have this
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movement and you have this interesting
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completely obscure way of looking at
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something and actually he created it
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with all these elements and he was also
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influenced by neo gothic art and
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oriental techniques. I can see the
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oriental cuz that's kind of what you
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were saying. I think that brings it part
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and and I think it all comes together in
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such a unique way even now. I mean no
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one has done that type of architecture
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really. It didn't even though he became
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part of the modernist movement and
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there's a lot of you know things that
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came from that. No one has really
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created that type of architecture again
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I don't think. Right. And that's I think
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what makes him particularly unique is
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that it didn't it wasn't copied over and
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over again in different places. I think
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not to any real sort of great
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he didn't have a school that was like
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you know the bow house bred mini a copy
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right no one was copying his work right
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and you do see the elements of even like
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art nuvo with the with the swirling
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shapes in his things you know you see
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where he derived his work from but yes
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no one else kind of copied it and went
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with it
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kind of the combination yeah the
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combination of all the things he puts
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together so when you see these buildings
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you'll you I mean in Barcelona has some
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beautiful areas you'll kind of walk and
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you'll be like, "Well, that's a Gaudy
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building obviously," you know, um not
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just because they've lit it up and, you
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know, made it a thing, but they've
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really, you know, really made it. You
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can tell like how different it is and
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and it's, you know, for him all the
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different there's some sort of main
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elements obviously there he was using
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religious symbolism and also some
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traditional Catalan elements in his
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designs that were very unique to what he
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was doing. very nature inspired where he
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would like you were saying the elements
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of the curves and the arches organic
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shapes
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the organic shapes are probably what
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makes it so unique I think one one of
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the things
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and and and the organic shapes and
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speaking of that you have these like
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geological formations right so like if
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you do see the cigrada familia it's like
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stelacttites and stelagmites right like
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that's what the
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absolutely looks like yeah
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and you know and he he loved color right
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so we that, right? And and again,
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speaking of the Sigrada, the way the
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stained glass just lights up the pl, but
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it's not like normal stained glass. It's
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not what you're used to, right? It's
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it's very ealreal. Is that the word I'm
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looking for? I don't know. It's very I
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mean, it is very spiritual in a way,
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heavenly, right?
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Absolutely. And I think those vibrant
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colors and textures even in the
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buildings you'll see and in I mean I the
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place that where I really see that most
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is in the the park. Um, I mean it's just
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the the beautiful mosaics and they are
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they are vibrant and colorful and you
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know they're not just using one color. I
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mean it's all very colorful and exciting
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and so his his way of bringing in these
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elements and they're on sort of all of
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the buildings. I mean it's very very
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interesting.
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Right. Yeah. Agreed.
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It's very and and it's intricate, right?
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Like that's the whole thing. It's it's
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so how do you and it's almost like these
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crushed tiles and yet formed perfectly
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together right
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has done right
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it all comes together really well and
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you know to the point before like it's
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he he liked decoration and architecture
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and putting them together and not seeing
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a separation of those two things. So and
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you can really see that it looks like
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somebody made this beautiful drawing and
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it and it was brought to life. I mean
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that is exactly how it looks I think and
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it and I and it's very unique.
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Agreed. Yeah. I mean and it's not like
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someone Yes. like an architect I've
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designed these walls and this space and
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then you do with what you and I've
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walked away and you do with what what
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you will with it. Right.
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Yeah. Well, and two, you might you might
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see some interesting architecture in
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certain places, like they've they've
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built a building and then the the
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balconies are really pretty or the top
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part of the building is really pity
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pretty, but the rest of it's just a flat
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building or whatever. Like with his
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work, the whole building the whole
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building is a piece of of art. Like
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every single element of it, how the how
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the, you know, how the balcony blends
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into the rest of the building and then
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comes out again and has a nice swish of
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some mosaic in it. I mean, it's just
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very very unique. I would like to
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venture and say that it's not
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architecture but a sculpture.
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I think many people would agree with
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you. In fact, UNESCO would say he has
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seven works that are declared as world
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heritage sites which I think is also
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possibly pretty pretty might might be a
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record might be a world record.
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Um
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for one person I would think so. It's
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more than I have. I don't know about
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you.
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I don't think it would be difficult to
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beat us in this area, but
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So, do you want to read the list and and
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and and go with the pronunciations?
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Let's see how you
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try. Park Park Guell um Palao Palao
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Guwell um Casama Casa Vensn and the
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nativity facade and crypt of the um
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Sigara Familia obviously Casa patio and
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the crypt of the colonial gu.
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I think you did pretty well.
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Did I do all right there?
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I think so.
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And it was seven. How's that?
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It's seven. I'm just going to say
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though, if I could nitpick here, three
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of them are in well, so shouldn't that
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just be one site?
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I it really should, but I suppose each
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of them was designed separately,
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you know. So, I'm just going to say that
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they're different. Like the park we'll
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give him that bone.
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Yeah, the park is a huge like it's our
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own thing, you know. So, he could have
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he could have he could have um you know,
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designed a palace and not done a park or
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vice versa. True. Right. True. don't
15:02
necessarily go together. So, I'm going
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to defend them and him and say yes. In
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fact, he should have more.
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I mean, the the Sagraata Familia is like
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so big. They could have one for each
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little tower maybe, you know.
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Right. Right. And there and there the
15:16
thing we're going to do another Poco
15:18
Poco on the Sagrada. So, you know, stay
15:20
tuned for that. Um, but it is something
15:23
that they are continually working on.
15:25
You know, it had stopped construction
15:26
for a long time, but now there's a
15:28
massive effort to try to get this thing
15:30
finished. Although I think I have a
15:32
feeling people might be a bit
15:32
disappointed if it ever gets finished
15:34
because it's sort of been being built
15:36
for like 150 years or something. So,
15:39
right.
15:40
I mean, it's like do we have to finish
15:41
it? And I don't know. There's always
15:44
something to do if anyone has a house,
15:45
they know that. Just keep building.
15:50
Well, I think that's it. And I hope you
15:52
enjoyed our Poco Poco. And stay tuned
15:55
for more.
15:55
Stay tuned for more. Bye.
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Bye.
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[Music]