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Decadence

20/2/2011

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Picture
Casa Milà, Barcelona, Spain
Gaudí. The name is, at least in English, is synonymous with being over the top and garish. It was not until I visited Barcelona a few years ago that I not only fell in love with Gaudí’s work, but also really began to appreciate it. 

Antoni Plàcid Guillem Gaudí i Cornet was an architect who lived in Barcelona and who worked during the Modernisme (Art Nouveau) period. However, he became famous for his unique and highly individualistic designs.

Gaudí studied nature's angles and curves and incorporated them into his designs and mosaics. This is what drew me to Gaudí when I saw his work when I saw it in Barcelona. The blatant copying and incorporating of the natural world gave his work an organic feel and texture. 

I found myself drawn to taking mostly colour images of Gaudí’s work – on my trusted FujiFilm Velvia. 

The Basílica i Temple Expiatori de la Sagrada Família, commonly known as the Sagrada Família, is probably the most famous of Gaudí’s. The large Roman Catholic Church in central Barcelona is hard to miss. It is an impressive building, even though it’s still being built. 

While the Sagrada Família a remarkable building, another building really appealed to me. The Casa Milà, better known as La Pedrera (Catalan for 'The Quarry'), is a gem of a building. Along with the Sagrada Família, the building exemplifies Gaudí’s appreciation of the natural world. 

I could hardly take my camera away from my eye. The reason? Both internally and externally, La Pedrera is a beautiful showcase of Gaudí’s work. 

The building holds a treat for the visitor – a treat that is apparent from street level. On the roof, sits its chimneys. But these chimneys are like not ordinary chimneys - not with Gaudí being the architect. 

Somehow, there couldn’t be simply one, or even two chimneys. There were more than I could count, and they weren’t all the same. Like the natural world, nothing was really exactly the same. There was variance and difference. However, this variance and difference sat comfortably with each other and gives the visitor a sense of harmony. 

The chimneys presented me with some wonderful photo opportunities. The mosaics and beige and white deco contrasted nicely with the bright blue February sky. 

Gaudí’s work demands you look at it in ways that most other artists or architects don’t. It has pushed the boundaries in ways that no had done before, or even since. It may be garish; it may be over the top; it may be decadent. But it’s earthy - it taps into something quite fundamental. 

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    Heather Martin is a London based photographer who specialises in architectural, event and B&W film photography.

    For more info, please to the About page.

    **Heather Martin owns the copyright to all the photographs and text within this blog, unless otherwise stated.

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