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This clip shows some of the work of Spanish architect Antonio Gaudí. Moving and still images from his work on Casa dels Ossos highlight examples of his interior and exterior design. The narration emphasises his highly individual style and describes the other architectural schools prevalent at the time. The clip is accompanied by lute and guitar music.

Educational value points

• The clip highlights architecture by Antonio Gaudí, recognised internationally for his highly individual and detailed architecture. Gaudí was born in 1852 at Reus near Barcelona in Catalonia, Spain and died in 1926. The basilica Sagrada Familia (cathedral of the Holy Family) in Barcelona is the most famous and significant of his works. Taking more than 100 years to build, it is not expected to be completed until 2020.

• The clip features the building Casa Batlló, which became emblematic of Gaudí's style. The building had originally been constructed in 1877 and Gaudí was commissioned by the original owner, after whom it is named, to remodel the facade, restore the interior and design new furniture. Gaudí covered the exterior wall with decorative stones, glass and ceramic discs. The roof is a series of ceramic pieces that resemble scales on the back of a dragon. The facade features a continual structure, a constructional innovation characteristic of Gaudí's style, in which elements are seamlessly connected to form a whole. Soon after work began the building was called Casa dels ossos (House of bones) because of the resemblance of its white columns to bleached bones.

• Architectural design of the period was influenced by Modernism, a cultural movement that prevailed in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The movement had different names and characteristics in different regions: Modernisme in Catalonia, Modernismo in the rest of Spain, Art Nouveau in Belgium and France, and Secession in Vienna. Regional forms of Modernism were parallel, but not identical, in style. The Catalonian form developed between 1888 and 1960 and is characterised by ornamentation, rich detailing, organic lines and asymmetric shapes.

• Art Nouveau, Secession and Modernisme are considered to have played a role in defining Gaudí's distinctive architectural style but, although influenced by contemporary movements, his style is a unique combination of Gothic, biomorphic and Art Nouveau.

• Gaudí's individual approach to design stood him apart from other modernist architects of the time. Unique to his style are his careful observations and understanding of nature, which are reflected structurally and aesthetically in his work (note the tortoiseshell designs and scales in this clip). Many of his projects remained incomplete due to the complexity of the design and the precise, intricate and extensive decorations, which he directed and designed personally.

• Detailed, rich, colourful and intricately constructed mosaics are a feature of Gaudí's work. He often used broken or discarded tiles on the exteriors of his buildings. This use of ceramic tiles combined the influence of his own cultural tradition with ornamental ideas from other cultures, particularly oriental and Islamic cultures.

This clip starts approximately 19 minutes into the documentary.

Spanish guitar music plays over a montage of Gaudí’s buildings and interiors.
Narrator Gaudí was a perfectionist. He paid attention to every detail of his buildings, including the interiors. He designed window and door mouldings, ironwork, supervised colour schemes and designed the furnishings and furniture. The interiors of Gaudí’s domestic buildings are often cited as being his most art nouveau work.

While it would be wrong to think of Gaudí as working in isolation, he can’t really be equated with any particular architectural school of thought in Europe at the time, such as art nouveau of France and Belgium, or the secession of Vienna. Many of his buildings, which have been quoted as being influenced by art nouveau, in fact preceded by 10 years the accepted beginnings of that style in Brussels. At first glance, the work of some of Gaudí’s contemporaries in Barcelona such as catafalque looks like Gaudí’s architecture. What distinguishes Gaudí from them is his concept and use of ornamentation.

The movement known as 'modernismo’ was particularly concerned with ornamentation. Modernismo was very much part of the general Catalonian renaissance and looked back to traditional Catalan architecture for its inspiration. Gaudí shared the interest in ornamentation, but he integrated it with his structural principles and at the same time enlarged the scale of the ornamentation so that an entire building becomes a lively fusion of ornament and structure.