Spanish Tales. Gaudi. Casa.

 It might seem that Gaudi was a madman. Well, he must’ve been anyway. But no ordinary man can create things he did. And the secret of a genius turned out to be so simple, yet so magical: the secret was – the Nature. Gaudi’s designs were inspired by nature’s soft curves and lines (rather than geometric lines)…the flow of water, the growth pattern of plants. He rejected straight lines, as he believes there are no straight lines in nature. In Sagrada Familia’s museum there was an exhibition of small scaled models of the natural elements being compared to the elements in the works of Gaudi. I ventured into www to find illustrations for this as it is difficult to describe in words. It appeared rather hard to find any good information, until I’ve found this site – there is a good illustration of the main principals of Gaudi’s designs. Take a look if you’re interested. You don’t have to read, but to look at the pictures – you will understand Gaudi much better! He was not a madman with unruled fantasy. He was a genius who made his fantasies come true.

Before going to Barcelona I read some info on Gaudi and honestly was not impressed at all. It looked to me as if he was somewhat “fashion spoilt” thing, a “designer’s brand”, tasteless and kitschy…but that is only because in the picture you can never capture the nature. When you are around his creations, you begin to feel them, just like being in the forest you feel the trees around you, being on a seaside you experience light rocking of the waves…that is why I said before the walls pull you in…it may be different sensation for another – how one can feel the forest in million ways? I have to say, of all four of his works we’ve seen, there was one that became very special for me. One that charmed, captured my imagination and even if he’d never build anything else, I would still consider him a genius for that particular work. And this would be…

Casa Battló
Now this is The House. There is no limit to the wavy lines there. I advise not to go there if you tend to get seasick…The House is locally known as the "house of bones" because the balconies of its front facade resemble bones and skulls. From the moment you walked inside, you magically get transported into the Wonderland. The house brings various impressions to different people and I read lots of diversed reviews. And they’ve been just kaleidoscope of sensations. To me personally the House became a creature of the ocean depths. A Sea Dragon or something of such matter…the blend of light and waves is so awesome; you can’t get around without a feeling of the floor rocking slightly underneath your feet…the structure just so organic, again, it lives, breathes, even moves with you being inside of it…very enchanting…there are pipes on the rooftop, bundled in groups. 

The roof looks like a back of a dragon, so you can imagine yourself a Dragon Slayer, when you are up there…

It’s interesting that besides being truly amazing as an art, all his works are also based on logic and rational calculations, all the little details are thought of and his houses are not just a “funky waste of space”, but pretty much functional in terms of comfort of living…and that Casa Battlo…oh, I was so in love with it from the first sight! So much light! Forms and shapes are so subtle! Folding doors transfer two single rooms into one huge hall, flooded with the light twice as much! The railings on a curvy staircase changing their depth and shape to accommodate your hand at any particular turn of the steps…walls that are soft and somewhat “bulgy”, “drops” and “ripples” hanging stone frozen from the ceilings…

and more light…light is literally everywhere…in fact there is so much light that it starts to sound…subtle sound of a splash or a stream…it’s hauntingly beautiful…

and in the evening when they lighted up Casa Battlo it becomes an iridescent skin of a mystical sea creature…well, at least that’s what I saw and felt about him… 

More Gaudi left still…