{"id":6871,"date":"2026-07-31T13:58:01","date_gmt":"2026-07-31T11:58:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.sagradafamilia.org\/?p=6871"},"modified":"2026-07-31T14:49:55","modified_gmt":"2026-07-31T12:49:55","slug":"seguint-els-passos-dantoni-gaudi-a-barcelona","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.sagradafamilia.org\/en\/seguint-els-passos-dantoni-gaudi-a-barcelona\/","title":{"rendered":"Following Antoni Gaud\u00ed\u2019s footsteps in Barcelona"},"content":{"rendered":"

The information for this post is taken from the book Antoni Gaud\u00ed, vida i obra, by Armand Puig i T\u00e0rrech, and other sources cited in the text.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 1868, Antoni Gaud\u00ed moved to Barcelona, at the age of sixteen. He left behind his childhood in Camp de Tarragona, where he had absorbed local customs, traditions and methods, and where his identity was forged by nature, light and the sea.(See blog post: \u2018Back to Antoni Gaud\u00ed\u2019s roots\u2019)<\/a>His desire to become an architect took him to the Catalan capital, where he finished the secondary studies he had begun in Reus and enrolled in the Barcelona Provincial School of Architecture<\/strong>. In addition to his studies, he worked for artisans and other architects, such as Francisco de Paula del Villar. He graduated in 1878, the same year he received his first official commission: to design the street lights for Pla\u00e7a Reial and Pla de Palau in Barcelona.<\/strong> It was the first project in his prolific career that began in a city that was changing and expanding as a result of the industrial revolution; a city that would become his home, although he never broke ties with the region where he was born.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a young man, Gaud\u00ed frequented Barcelona\u2019s intellectual and cultural circles.<\/strong> He often attended performances at the Liceu opera house and concerts at Palau de la M\u00fasica, took part in debates at Ateneu Barcelon\u00e8s, went horseback riding and was a member of the hiking association Associaci\u00f3 Catalanista d\u2019Excursions Cient\u00edfiques, now Centre Excursionista de Catalunya. \u201cHe smoked cigars, dressed sharply and rode in a horse-drawn carriage. You could call him a dandy,\u201d explains Armand Puig.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the end of the 19th century, however, the architect fell into a deep personal crisis that led him to fast and reconsider his lifestyle. Guided by several people he trusted, including Bishops Joan Baptista Grau i Vallespin\u00f3s and Josep Torras i Bages, he opted for a much more austere, solitary life. \u201cGaud\u00ed found himself through a life of sacrifice,\u201d explains Dr Armand Puig.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This transformation gave rise to new habits, shaping the activities and routines Gaud\u00ed would continue until his death. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This post looks at his daily life and the path he walked from the model home in Park G\u00fcell, where he went to live in 1906.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Model home at Park G\u00fcell, where Antoni Gaud\u00ed lived from 1906 to 1925<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the morning, he walked down to the Sant Joan de Gr\u00e0cia parish church,<\/strong>where he normally worshipped in those years. Some historians believe Gaud\u00ed helped design a trencad\u00eds mosaic in the chapel of the Holy Sacrament there, attributed to his disciple Francesc Berenguer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Sant Joan de Gr\u00e0cia parish church, on Pla\u00e7a de la Virreina<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After mass, he would walk to the Sagrada Fam\u00edlia, where he worked on the project he had been commissioned in 1883 and devoted himself to completely from 1914, when he completed La Pedrera. Adjoining the Temple, he built an atelier, where he prepared his models, and the provisional school building, for the children of the workers and those living in the neighbourhood around the Sagrada Fam\u00edlia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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View of the exterior of Gaud\u00ed\u2019s atelier in 1927. Source: Photographic Archive of the Centre Excursionista de Catalunya<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gaud\u00ed spent most of his day at the Temple, drawing, making models, overseeing the works, speaking with his collaborators and explaining the project or welcoming visitors interested in what they were doing. In November 1925, he even left the house in Park G\u00fcell, where he had been living alone for some years after the death of his father and niece, to move into the Sagrada Fam\u00edlia. Until his death in June 1926, he lived in a small study, surrounded by plans and models, where he set up a simple bed to sleep on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Antoni Gaud\u00ed on the Temple worksite. Gaud\u00ed\u2019s study at the Sagrada Fam\u00edlia and the bed where he slept<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The architect often carried nuts in his pockets from the tenant on the family land in Riudoms, which tided him over until lunchtime. In the evening, after finishing work, he walked to Sant Felip Neri church, where he prayed and took part in vespers.<\/strong> This is where Gaud\u00ed was heading on the evening of 7 June 1926, when he was run over by a tram. That same afternoon, he had been working on some alabaster lights for the crypt and, when they finished, he said to the worker alongside him: \u201cSee you tomorrow. We\u2019ll do some lovely things.\u201d But he would never return, dying three days later at Hospital de la Santa Creu.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Exterior fa\u00e7ade and inside of Sant Felip Neri church, which Antoni Gaud\u00ed frequented regularly<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sant Felip Neri was very important to Gaud\u00ed, both socially and artistically, and spiritually, as it was where he went to confession and followed the teachings of Llu\u00eds M. de Valls and Agust\u00ed Mas, both priests at that church. He often coincided there with members of Cercle Art\u00edstic de Sant Lluc,<\/strong>an association of artists who shared the ideals of Christian Catalan nationalism promoted by Bishop Josep Torras i Bages. These included painter Joan Llimona, architect Josep Puig i Cadafalch and Orfe\u00f3 Catal\u00e0 Director Llu\u00eds Millet, who was the chapel master and shared his interest in popular music and Gregorian chants, among others. The former, brother of sculptor Josep Llimona who worked on the Sagrada Fam\u00edlia, paid tribute to Gaud\u00ed by having him sit as a model for Saint Philip Neri in the two paintings that hang inside the church.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Paintings from Sant Felip Neri church with Antoni Gaud\u00ed portrayed as a saint. By Joan Llimona<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the end of the day, he returned to Park G\u00fcell, on foot or by tram, with the evening edition of the newspaper La Veu de Catalunya <\/em>under his arm, which he purchased in Pla\u00e7a d\u2019Urquinaona. He was often accompanied by friends such as Dr Pere Santal\u00f3 and head sculptor Lloren\u00e7 Matamala, when their health allowed it. Sometimes, he stopped by the Sagrada Fam\u00edlia model workshop for dinner and, when he arrived home, said a quick prayer to the image of Saint Anthony of Padua in his garden, as he did when leaving in the mornings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gaud\u00ed walked between eight and ten kilometres a day through the streets of Barcelona.<\/strong> Physical activity was an essential part of his daily routine, as he said, \u201cThe feet hold up the head. Walking is essential to offset intellectual work and for deep, restorative sleep. It is important to occupy your mind and body all day, walking and exercising, according to each person\u2019s energy level. That way, you sleep through the night and that is balance, compensation, life.\u201d*<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00a0 *Joan Berg\u00f3s, Gaud\u00ed. The man and his work.<\/em>Page 27.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These walks were even longer on Sunday mornings. After attending mass at the cathedral, Gaud\u00ed headed down to the breakwater at the port to watch the sea. <\/strong>He had done this ever since he was a boy in Tarragona, because he believed the sea allowed him to perceive volume and three-dimensionality. He was often accompanied by Dom\u00e8nec Sugra\u00f1es, his first collaborator at the Sagrada Fam\u00edlia and the architect who would take over the works there after his death. On these walks, Gaud\u00ed, a pleasant man to listen to and accustomed to reflection, had long conversations with his companions on a wide variety of topics. \u201cYou have to alternate between reflection and action, as they correct each other,\u201d the architect explained to Joan Berg\u00f3s, one of his young collaborators.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

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