A review by jnzllwgr
Gaudi: A Biography by Gijs Van Hensbergen

5.0

Gaudi’s notoriety is fairly well established and — as his most famous commission the Sagrada Familia Church in Barcelona approaches completion — has permeated the general ranks of society. This was a fairly straightforward biography, told in a pleasant, grounded voice, about Gaudi’s whole life. Architects and lay people alike could enjoy this book readily. I mostly enjoyed the backstory to his upbringing and the context (i.e.multiple society upheavals and revolutions) in which he practiced architecture. I did not enjoy the reminder that architecture takes patronage — something the cantankerous, ascetic, overly-religious Gaudi retained to achieve his goals. We learn about figures in cultural history as autonomous iconoclasts who never required a) luck or b) a community of support. The reality is both a) and b) are present in every one of our heroes’ lives.