Antoni Gaudí

1852-1926 19th century

Working for what one will not see finished; attention given to the forms God has already made.

Who was Antoni Gaudí?

A Catalan architect, he gave the last forty-three years of his life to a single building site, the Sagrada Família, which he knew he would not see finished. He ended up living in a workshop in the middle of his work, poor, fasting, going to Mass each day. Knocked down by a tram, he was taken for a beggar and died three days later in the paupers' hospital.

In their own words

There is nothing to regret in my not being able to finish the temple. I shall grow old, but others will come after me. What must always be preserved is the spirit of the work.

Words on the Sagrada Família site ('No hay que lamentar que yo no pueda terminar el templo…'), recorded by his disciples: C. Martinell, Gaudí, su vida, su teoría, su obra, Barcelona, 1967; I. Puig Boada, El pensament de Gaudí, 1981

Originality consists in returning to the origin.

Reported saying ('La originalidad consiste en el retorno al origen'), the origin being, for Gaudí, created nature, where he took his forms