Gothic, Gaudi & Dali

The link between the Catalan Gothic style in architecture and the works of Antoni Gaudi is an intriguing one, in that the Catalan Gothic style evolved during the region’s 13th-century “golden age” and Gaudi’s reference to it seems to reflect the resurgence of strong Catalan nationalist sentiments during his own lifetime. His idiosyncratic style is essentially a colourful personalised version of a generally adhered to Catalan adaptation of “art nouveau” principles, known as the “modernista” style.

Pioneering the Surrealist movement almost a century later, Catalan-born Salavdor Dali’s style may be compared to that of Gaudi, each artist employing fantasy images portraying a confusion of the real and the imaginary. The museum just outside Barcelona dedicated to Dali's work gives an insight into the eccentric artist’s subconscious.

This combination largely defines the outward look of the city, an area as harmonious, chic and elegant as Baron Hausmann’s Paris. Medieval Barcelona, or the Gothic Quarter as it is now known, contains one of the largest areas of a medieval street-plan in Europe and many fine examples of the airy low-slung Catalan Gothic style.