Comenius Barcelona

What we're going to talk about

Antoni Gaudí (Casa Milà) Salvador Dalí (The persistence of

memory) Pablo Picasso (Guernica)

Antoni Gaudi Biography

• Antoni Gaudí i Cornet (1852 – 1926) was a Catalan architect and a practitioner of Catalan Modernism.

• He was influenced by his passions in life: architecture, nature, and religion.

• He Was inspired by oriental arts, so we can see the influence of the Oriental movement in artistic works like the Capricho, the Güell Palace or the Casa Vicens. Later, he adhered to the neo-Gothic movement that was in fashion at the time. This influence is reflected in the crypt and the apse of the Sagrada Família.

Style • Gaudí's works reflect an individualized and distinctive style. His magnum opus is Sagrada Família.

• He introduced new techniques in the treatment of materials.

• Under the influence of neo-Gothic art and Oriental techniques, Gaudí became part of the Modernist movement. His work transcended mainstream Modernism.

Casa Milà, La Pedrera

•Casa Milà, also known as La Pedrera, is a modernist building located at Passeig de Gràcia in

Barcelona.

• It was the last civil work designed by Catalan architect Antoni Gaudí

and it was built between the years 1906 and 1910.

Casa Milà • Architecturally it is considered an innovative work by having a structure of columns and floors free of load bearing walls. Similarly, the front – which is made of stone – is also self-supporting, i.e., not loads of floors. Another innovative element was the construction of the underground garage.

• In 1984, it was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO.

Salvador Dalí (The persistence of memory)

•Salvador Dalí (May 11, 1904 – January 23, 1989) was a prominent Spanish Catalan surrealist painter born in Figueres, Spain.

•Dalí was known for the striking and bizarre images in his surrealist work . His painterly skills are often attributed to the influence of Renaissance masters. His best known work is The Persistence of Memory, completed in August 1931.

•Dalí attributed his "love of everything that is gilded and excessive, my passion for luxury and my love of oriental clothes "to an "Arab lineage", saying that his ancestors descended from the Moors.

•Dalí was highly imaginative and sometimes his eccentric manner and attention-grabbing public actions sometimes drew more attention than his artwork.

Salvador Dalí

• The Persistence of memory is a 1931 painting by artist Salvador Dalí, and it is one of his most recognizable works.

• The scenery is simple; the sea beyond and some small rocks to the right appear. In the foreground, on the left, a block, resembling a table, on which two clocks and an incomplete tree are seen. The biggest clock is soft, it has a fly on it. The small one, closed like a pocket watch, ants moving over it. On the tree there is a third clock, also soft.

• A strange figure that simulates a soft head appears in the center of the artwork. Particularly striking is its enormous nose, kind of language coming out of it and a closed eye with long eyelashes. The fourth clock appears equally soft and it also seems to melt or bleed.

The persistence of memory

Pab

lo P

icass

o• Pablo Picasso (1881 –1973) was a Spanish painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist, stage designer, poet and playwright.

• As one of the greatest and most influential artists of the 20th century, he is known for co-founding the Cubist movement.

•One of his most famous paintings is Guernica (1937), a portrayal of the Bombing of Guernica by the German and Italian air forces at the behest of the Spanish nationalist government during the Spanish Civil War.

•Picasso demonstrated extraordinary artistic talent. During the 20th century, his style changed as he experimented with different theories, techniques, and ideas. His work is often categorized into periods.

•Picasso achieved universal renown and immense fortune for his revolutionary artistic accomplishments, and became one of the most recognized figures in 20th century art.

Pablo Picasso (Guernica)• Guernica is a painting by Pablo Picasso. It was created

in response to the bombing of Guernica, a village in the north of Spain, by German and Italian warplanes

on 26 April 1937 during the Spanish Civil War.

• The Guernica is an oil on canvas, with dimensions of 3.50 x 7.80 m. Despite its title, and the circumstances

in which it was made, there is not any specific reference to the bombing of Guernica. It Is, therefore,

a narrative but symbolic picture. It is painted in black and white and a range of grays.

• The frame structure is similar to that of a triptych whose central panel is occupied by a horse, a woman

and a lamp holder about to die. On a side, on the right, a burning house with a woman screaming, and on the left, a bull and the woman with her dead son.

We hope you liked our oral presentation of 3 famous

artists who had a great relationship with Barcelona

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