GAUDÃ, Antoni (Riudoms, Tarragona, 1852 - Barcelona, 1926).
Plaster plaster base.
Measurements: 111 x 33 x 34 cm.
This model of plinth is catalogued in the book "Catalan Modernism", published by the Caja Vital Kutxa Foundation in 2002, p. 162. It should also be noted how the organic forms of this piece are reminiscent of those of the façade of the Nativity of the Sagrada Familia in Barcelona. This is the only part of the church directly built by Gaudí, and has recently been declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO. Its entire surface is decorated with an abstract organic decoration, moving and full of life, mixing the vegetable with the liquid, identical to that which covers, concealing it, the structure of this pedestal. They are lively, organic but unidentifiable forms, profoundly modernist, which seem to flow vertically through the piece, developing freely and giving the pedestal an asymmetrical, soft, typically Gaudidian shape.
Gaudi is currently considered to be the world's greatest architect of his time. This pedestal was designed by Gaudi for the Batllo mansion on Passeig de Gràcia in Barcelona. It was made by the company Esteva i Cia. in spartan plaster with naturalistic forms, comparable to a tree trunk, with dark green and gold polychromy. Only two others are known of this piece, one in the Mnac, with damage, and the other in the Museu del Modernisme Catalá.
This pedestal is a brilliant example of the attention and care that Gaudí paid to the details that decorated his buildings. One of the main ideas of architectural modernism, with which Gaudí always shared, was the integration of the major and minor arts, that is, the integration of architecture with decoration, furniture and sculpture. This is the modernist concept of organic architecture, according to which Gaudí conceived the building as a living organism, with all its parts harmoniously related, from the façade to the ceiling panels, furniture, lamps, etc., all designed by him down to the last detail.
As a student he frequented various craft workshops, where he learned the various trades related to architecture, such as sculpture, carpentry, forging, glass, ceramics and plaster moulding. His idea, shared with William Morris, one of the fathers of modernism, was that in order to design an artistic object, one first needs to know the working techniques in order to make the most of the possibilities they offer. In fact, thanks to the artists of modernism, many artistic techniques of the past, which were in danger of being lost in the face of the advance of industrialisation, were recovered.
Our piece is a clear example of this concept of a living organism that Gaudí embodied in his buildings. It is not something defined, it is neither animal nor vegetable, and at the same time it looks like a mixture of both. It is a matter of capturing without further artifice the idea of the abstract organic, of the essence of the living, with no intention of referring to reality. The forms of this cantilever seem to twine freely around each other, bubbling with life, in permanent movement, hence its asymmetrical composition, which avoids any rigidity. While the use of gilding is a nod to tradition, formally this piece is completely innovative; it leaves figurative decoration to one side to give centre stage to the living organic mass, as if the building were just another element of nature, as if it had grown there spontaneously and was not the result of man's hand. The greatest representative of Catalan and, therefore, Spanish modernism, Gaudí is one of the most outstanding architects and decorators in European history. Even as a child he loved hiking and direct contact with nature. Having stood out as a child for his drawings, he studied architecture at the Escola de la Llotja and at the E