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06 · Arts & Crafts to Art Deco

Catalan Modernisme

c. 1885–1920

Barcelona's dream architecture: rippling stone facades, roofs scaled in broken-tile mosaic, and structure borrowed from bones and trees.

Look for

Organic ornament Wrought-iron balcony Stained glass
Sagrada Família, Barcelona, Spain: an example of Catalan Modernisme architecture
Sagrada Família, Barcelona, Spain. Photo: Canaan, CC BY-SA 4.0
Casa Batlló, Barcelona, Spain
Casa Batlló Barcelona, Spain · ChristianSchd, CC BY-SA 3.0
Casa Milà, Barcelona, Spain
Casa Milà Barcelona, Spain · Thomas Ledl, CC BY-SA 4.0
Park Güell, Barcelona, Spain
Park Güell Barcelona, Spain · essetefano, CC BY 3.0
Palau de la Música Catalana, Barcelona, Spain
Palau de la Música Catalana Barcelona, Spain · Tudoi61, CC BY-SA 4.0

what it is

Catalan Modernisme is the Art Nouveau architecture of Catalonia, centered on Barcelona. Its buildings favor curved lines and plant and animal forms, and combine brick, stone, wrought iron, stained glass and ceramic tile. Many draw on medieval Gothic and Mudejar building, the brick and tile work of Muslim builders in Christian Spain, with pointed or horseshoe arches and exposed brick. Antoni Gaudi added trencadis, a mosaic of broken tile and china, and catenary arches, which follow the curve of a hanging chain turned upside down.

On Barcelona's Passeig de Gracia, Gaudi's Casa Batllo (1904-1906) and Casa Mila (1906-1912) stand near Josep Puig i Cadafalch's Casa Amatller and Lluis Domenech i Montaner's Casa Lleo Morera. Domenech's Palau de la Musica Catalana (1905-1908) has a stained-glass skylight over its concert hall, and Gaudi's Park Guell (1900-1914) uses trencadis on its benches and dragon fountain. Compared with French Art Nouveau, Modernisme makes more use of brick and ceramic and of medieval Catalan and Moorish forms.

how to spot one

Organic ornament Decoration based on plant forms such as vines, leaves and flowers, often with curving lines. It is a main feature of Art Nouveau, about 1890 to 1910, and of Louis Sullivan's buildings. Wrought-iron balcony A balcony with a railing of wrought (hammered) or cast (molded) iron, often worked into scrolls and leaves. It is common in New Orleans's French Quarter and in Spanish Colonial towns. Stained glass Pieces of colored glass held together by strips of lead, called cames, to form pictures or patterns. It is most common in churches, especially Gothic cathedrals, and in Victorian and Art Nouveau buildings.

Also look for

Round archRoof finialCarved stone relief

history

Modernisme grew out of the Renaixenca, a 19th-century revival of Catalan language and culture, and out of Barcelona's expansion into the Eixample, the grid district planned by Ildefons Cerda and approved in 1860. Gaudi's Casa Vicens (1883-1885), with its Mudejar arches and tile cladding, was an early work, and in 1883 he took over the Sagrada Familia, begun in 1882 to a Gothic Revival design by Francisco de Paula del Villar. The 1888 Barcelona Universal Exposition produced the first major Modernista building, Domenech's cafe-restaurant now called the Castle of the Three Dragons.

The movement was most active from 1888 to about 1911. Gaudi, Domenech and Puig i Cadafalch built houses for wealthy industrial families and public buildings such as Domenech's Hospital de Sant Pau (1901-1930). By about 1910 Modernisme had become a fashion of the bourgeoisie, and younger Catalan architects and writers turned to Noucentisme, a more classical and restrained movement. When Gaudi died in 1926, less than a quarter of the Sagrada Familia was complete. Its central Tower of Jesus Christ was structurally completed in February 2026 at 172.5 meters, making it the tallest church in the world.

where to find it

Barcelona: the Sagrada Familia, Casa Batllo and Casa Mila, Park Guell, and Domenech's Palau de la Musica Catalana.

architects

Antoni Gaudí

easy to confuse with

Casa Batlló, an example of Art Nouveau Art Nouveau Whiplash curves and plant-like ironwork: facades that look grown rather than built. Notre-Dame de Paris, an example of Gothic Gothic Pointed arches, ribbed ceilings, and flying buttresses that let stone walls turn into glass and light.