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Tres Gaudi
Saith Jon G, in a post on Gaudi:
He fell after departing his masterwork, la Basilica de la Sagrada Família, a structure one @jameslileks of Minneapolis, MN, described as “ugly” a few weeks ago on the flagship podcast. For shame.
I did say that. It was shorthand for a longer critique, which is “it’s ugly, but.”
But it’s fascinating. But it’s unique. But it is essential to interrogate and understand the things that abrade your own aesthetic preferences. But it’s an instance of individual genius seizing an opportunity and laying down a marker future generations felt compelled to pay off. But it’s an example of the ways in which individualistic talent can create a new vocabulary. And so on.
As much as I don’t like the insectoid excrescences of the exterior . . .
. . . I love the interior. It’s idiosyncratic as well, but the adaptation of the old church idioms to Gaudi’s nature-inspired ideas works better, because they have to play nice with the necessities of the genre. There has to be a roof, columns, windows, a certain space arrayed a certain way. It feels like a church, and it also feels like something you’d find on another planet that came to the same God in their own way.
The quality of the light is something I’ve never seen anywhere.
The east entrance, dedicated to the Passion, is at odds with the rest of the style. It has the post-war abstract forms you found in 1950s American churches. Then again, the Nativity tableaus on the East side mix realistic sculpture with frothy stone and stalactites covered with fungal plates –
So it’s a mix. It lacks the rigor, the organizational certainties and consistencies that characterize nearly every other great church – and that’s fine! It’s different, as we passive-aggressive Minnesotans say. Some love it because, like Gaudi, they find God in Nature; others are a bit put off because they find God in the human mind’s ability to create order and form. Gaudi is a riot of untamed vegetation and hive-building; St. Peter’s is the work of rational man, putting one stone carefully atop another.
I love Gaudi’s other work. But. It stands out because its sensuous curves play against the linear regularity of the Eixample’s architecture. The streets of Barcelona are fascinating because of the subtle iterations of the linear style. A building is straight and strong, its windows rectangular and evenly paced . . . but a riot of Art Nouveau stone erupts around a second floor bay window. A building is square and sober and rises with stolid certainty . . . but angels wrought in stone attend the cupola. Gaudi is loved in Barcelona because Barcelona is not, for the most part, like Gaudi. If the city was mostly curvy flaccid lines, people would praise to the point of worship a stern Bauhaus rebuke.
I remember finding a piece he did in Mallorca. The Reconquista had reclaimed the island for Spain, and they razed the mosque and build a church, just to let everyone know the score. Gaudi did a pulpit for the building, much later. It doesn’t fit. Because it’s a Gaudi work, no one dares note “well, that doesn’t fit, at all,” because we’re supposed to admire the individual item without noticing its lack of relation to the rest of the church. It’s like seeing a 50s tailfin pulpit in a Romanesque church.
Gaudi is buried in the basement of his church. When we visited we could not pay homage at his tomb, because there was a ceremony going on downstairs. We could look down through a window and observe. The basement is the original foundation of the church, which was intended to be a standard-issue Spanish Baroque number. The original architect quit, and somehow Gaudi convinced the officials to let him finish the site with his hallucinogenic design. He never saw its completion – perhaps none of us will, despite the optimistic predictions – but he slumbers in an alcove in a basement designed in the old style he sought to replace. Beneath the old arches of the ancient styles, he is forgiven, absolved, and revered, marked by candles as red as the roses that bedeck his Barcelona buildings on St. Jordi’s day.
I appreciate your clarification of your position and your in depth appreciation ( albeit from a different angle) of Gaudi’s work
James, your prose is lovely.
Well this is certainly the most refreshing difference of opinion I’ve read here in a while.
It would be interesting to see if any of the original design plans or blueprints survive – its hard to imagine how that could be conveyed to a builder unless he was there onsite for the duration.
That one view of the ceiling, reminds me of stalagmites in a cave. That photo with the light coming in – wow!
Curt Gaudi – nice piece.
Unsk, Arahant – thank you!
It’s marvelous- and the other side of the room is washed in blue and green light. It’s as if they pushed the saturation sliders all the way to the right.
Nice post, but.
That sure is a lot of buts. I’d post the photo that goes with this (beach bums) but it would likely get redacted.
I am, and always have been, discomfited by Gaudi. Were I not blindingly aware of my philistine nature, of my near complete lack of a competent aesthetic sense, I’d say yes, his buildings are ugly, even architecturally perverse.
But I will defer to those of you who really do have taste in such things.
My only experience of La Sagrada Familia or any of the rest of Gaudi’s work is photographic. Range has a big effect on my appreciation. The closeups are always more impressive than the panoramas.
Oh, yeah, it’s ON. Rap-battle throwdown on Antoni Gaudi — only on Ricochet!
First, thanks for the response. In confession, I was hoping to provoke an excellent post.
I think what I most like about Gaudi is his otherworldliness. I study his work and think how on earth did he come up with that? And why does it work? He had few if any antecedents, inventing his style ex nihilo. He also has few descendants… how do you copy that? Let’s just toss up a bunch of rectangles.
Even the details are extravagant. “Hey, Antoni, I could use a light up there.”
To resolve this once and for all, Ricochet should fly us to Barcelona on the corporate jet.
Gaudi is gaudy.
Or rowboat.
I am a conscientious objector in this fight.
It’s been said that the Watts Towers in Los Angeles were inspired by Gaudi, although there is no proof of this.
Bon Voyage!
The photos reminded me of the Watts Towers.
I agree with James. The outside is maybe not super-ugly, but kind of grating. But the inside is fantastic. I’ve never seen a church quite like that, and I’ve been in some real doozies. I never liked Spanish painters, but this guy really stands out in the field of architecture.
A private jet is definitely in the offing. Let me call Al Gore or John Kerry and see if they can lend us theirs between their important meetings to save the planet and … universe. John, I love Guadi, in all shapes and forms. As to why his “sand drip” shapes and styles, though at times chaotic, inspire, “Yo no say”.
And you and Jim, by your uplifting comments, prove the point.
So, that’s Trey Gowdy’s drag queen stage name?
I was waiting for that
Sorry to be late.
A Ricochet meet-up I could actually attend. Make it so!
Probably just when we’ll be heading to Galway or the Burren (or both). Oh, well.
First-world problems: “Sorry I can’t make it to Barcelona, I’ll be in Galway then!”
You better look me up if you’re doing that 😁
We’re firming up the details now. A niece just this morning bought her plane tickets, so now we know who and how many. Looks like it will be me and four ladies (including my wife). If they kick me out I will still have my bicycle. I’ll DM you with other information soon in case it could be the occasion for a Ricochet mini-meetup!
I hope it’s not June 10th to 17th because I’ll be in Bulgaria
It will be late August-early September. The Galway/Burren part will probably be early in our stay rather than later, but we are still working on those details. I hope you’ll let us know about Bulgaria. Sounds interesting! I just now went to the route planner at RideWithGPS and looked randomly at some roads that bicyclers use. So far I see some quiet roads (at least when the Google StreetView camera went through) that are in good-enough condition.
I’m hoping to be going to a banquet in Bunratty Castle in Clare one weekend in September with a couple of friends. I’ll hold off on booking until I know your dates.
edited to say I actually had to go ahead and book because there were only a couple of sittings still available. So if you fancy Bunratty Castle on the 9th September I’ll be there😁