The Sagrada Familia: The Astonishing Story of Gaud�'s Unfinished Masterpiece

by Gijs Van Hensbergen

Overview

An illuminating biography of one of the most famous—and most famously unfinished—buildings in the world, the Sagrada Familia of Barcelona.

The scaffolding-cloaked spires of Antoni Gaudí's masterpiece, the Sagrada Familia, dominate the Barcelona skyline and draw in millions of visitors every year. More than a century after the first stone was laid in 1882, the Sagrada Familia remains unfinished, a testament to Gaudí's quixotic ambition, his religious devotion, and the sensuous eccentricity of his design. It has defied the critics, the penny-pinching accountants, the conservative town-planners, and the devotees of sterile modernism. It has enchanted and frustrated the citizens of Barcelona. And it has passed through the landmark changes of twentieth-century Spain, surviving two World Wars, the ravages of the Spanish Civil War, and the "Hunger Years" of Franco's rule.

Gijs van Hensbergen's The Sagrada Familia explores the evolution of this remarkable building, working through the decades right up to the present day before looking beyond to the final stretch of its construction. Rich in detail and vast in scope, this is a revelatory chronicle of an iconic structure, its place in history, and the wild genius that created it.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781632867810
Publisher:	Bloomsbury USA
Publication date:	07/25/2017
Pages:	224
Product dimensions:	5.40(w) x 8.30(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

Gijs van Hensbergen is an art historian and Hispanist. In March 2013 he was featured on "God's Architect," a CBS profile of Gaudí's breathtaking Sagrada Familia for 60 Minutes. He has been a fellow at the Harry Ransom Center and the London School of Economics, and lectured all over the world, including at Oxford University, the National Gallery in London, the Prado, and the prestigious summer school at El Escorial. His previous books include Guernica: The Biography of a Twentieth-Century Icon and Antoni Gaudí: A Biography.

Editorial Reviews

03/20/2017
Art historian van Hensbergen (Gaudí: A Biography) crafts an admiring study of Catalan architect Antoni Gaudí’s masterpiece, the Sagrada Família, tracing its evolution from local basilica to one of the world’s most recognizable structures. Weaving in stories of Gaudí’s work on other projects, van Hensbergen chronicles how the church represented its creator’s devotion to his Catholic faith and served as a Bible in stone, reflecting the blending of God, man, and nature as one. Working from the 1880s through to his death in 1926, Gaudí employed new technologies such as photography and modeling to maintain correct size and scale with remarkable accuracy even by today’s standards. The book also examines political and social upheavals in Spain over those years, including the Spanish Civil War and two world wars. These led to major destruction but failed to halt the construction of the basilica, which is ongoing. Van Hensbergen serves as an enthusiastic guide in this more than thorough account of one of the world’s most eccentric and stunning buildings. (July)

Publishers Weekly

"Extensively researched historical fact is presented in an accessible and readable style . . . Gaudi is presented as charismatic and driven, with a distinctive vision combining Gothic and Art Nouveau forms. Though there are a number of other books on the general topic, this is a singular English-language title as others function more as guides than histories." - Library Journal

"With the sharp eye of both an art historian and Gaudí scholar, Gijs van Hensbergen takes readers on a tour of the Sagrada Família." - Shelf Awareness Pro

"Art historian van Hensbergen crafts an admiring study of Catalan architect Antoni Gaudí's masterpiece, the Sagrada Família, tracing its evolution from local basilica to one of the world's most recognizable structures . . . Van Hensbergen serves as an enthusiastic guide in this more than thorough account of one of the world's most eccentric and stunning buildings." - Publishers Weekly

"Intoxicating . . . instantly engages . . . Van Hensbergen's rich, poetic prose is perfectly suited to describe this unprecedented work of art. An engrossing, vivid inquiry into a man and his magisterial creation." - Kirkus Reviews

"A fascinating depiction of an architect and his struggle to create a singular basilica . . . Gijs van Hensbergen has written a spellbinding account of Gaudí's unfinished masterpiece, one that every traveler to Barcelona would benefit from reading." - Washington Independent Review of Books

"Very readable, as author Gijs Van Hensbergen is a wonderful writer. Sagrada Família is an extensive volume that includes a multitude of subjects connected with Spain but particularly the life and work of the architect Antoni Gaudí and his many creations in Spain . . . The subject is fascinating: a monumental cathedral that started in 1882 whose construction continues to this date." - Manhattan Book Review / Seattle Book Review

"This book solves many of the puzzles and mysteries that have surrounded the creation of Gaudi's great, mad, intriguing dream. It is essential reading for any student of Catalonia's fascinating and complex heritage, as it is for any visitor to Barcelona." - Colm Toibin, author of HOMAGE TO BARCELONA and NORA WEBSTER

"Exquisite . . . A wonderment of an essay about a wonderment of a building." - Paul Preston, author of FRANCO and JUAN CARLOS

"A wonderfully illuminating and enriching book." - Andrew Graham-Dixon, author of CARAVAGGIO

"Few writers know Gaudi as intimately as Gijs van Hensbergen. Fewer still are capable of transmitting and explaining the mixture of magic, spirituality and outright eccentricity that has driven the construction of one of Europe's most emblematic temples." - Giles Tremlett, author of GHOSTS OF SPAIN and ISABELLA OF CASTILE

"Gijs van Hensbergen has pulled off a remarkable feat, taming the monstre sacre of 20th century architecture, without diminishing him. He takes a level headed and highly readable journey through the life of Antoni Gaudi, an architect loved by Dali, hated by Picasso, and now destined for sainthood." - Deyan Sudjic, director of The Design Museum, London

From the Publisher

2017-02-20
The story behind one of the world's most unique buildings.The bold opening sentence of art historian van Hensbergen's (Guernica: The Biography of a Twentieth-century Icon, 2004, etc.) intoxicating book about one of the world's most "puzzling" and "quixotic" structures instantly engages: "Gaudí, possibly more than any other architect in history, has been totally misunderstood." The author writes that Antoni Gaudí (1852-1926), like his buildings, was often seen as "far too eccentric, too bizarre and in Catalonia—the land of Salvador Dalí—almost too obviously surrealist and actually downright strange." To understand the method behind his architectural madness and his iconic Basilica and Expiatory Church of the Holy Family, it's necessary to understand Gaudí's profound Catholic faith. Van Hensbergen takes us on a tour of the building, pointing out its unique and distinctive features, from the roof's complex vaulting, like an "inverted egg box," to Gaudí's invention of the centenary arch, which miraculously holds up the roof without buttressing via inverted chainlike links. When finished, 18 towers will "crowd together and push up in unison like a family in stone." Gaudí drew on nature—snake skeletons, springtime shoots, and the gnarls and knots on oak trees—revealed through "the omnipresence of God's guiding hand"—to fashion the ornaments. They "had to speak." The idea for the basilica came from Joseph Maria Bocabella, a small-time Barcelona religious bookseller. Gaudí took over the commission in 1883 shortly after the first architect was let go. He finished the crypt in 1889, but his "next decision almost defies logic." He decided to focus on just one facade, meaning that he "would only ever see a fraction of the entire building finished within his own lifetime." They hope to finish the basilica by 2026, the 100th anniversary of Gaudí's death. Van Hensbergen's rich, poetic prose is perfectly suited to describe this unprecedented work of art. An engrossing, vivid inquiry into a man and his magisterial creation.

Kirkus Reviews