October 10, 2025
By: Ferran Garcés
Gaudí built Torre Bellesguard between 1900 and 1909. Last Friday they saw a selection of portraits of the architect in the previous years and during its realization (see: the first portraits) In this period, it had gone from forty to fifty years. Today we will see the last portraits, marked not only by a change of age but also by a change of pace of life. Around the time of Torre Bellesguard, the master completed his last private works, Casa Batlló (1904-1906) and Casa Milà (1906-1912), and, shortly after, against his will and due to various circumstances, he left park Güell (1900-1914) and Colònia Güell (1908-1914) unfinished.
Then, around 1914, Gaudí would dedicate himself only to the Sagrada Familia. Significantly, from that moment on, Gaudí’s portraits will be increasingly numerous, due to his growing popularity and the fact that, in the hope of raising funds with which to continue the works, a good part of his time, he had to dedicate it to attending to the different personalities and anyone who wanted to know him. On the other hand, as Juan José la Huerta writes, “The Sagrada Familia was already in Gaudí’s life, and without comparison, the most photographed monument in Barcelona” (1) Consequently, surrounded by people, sooner or later, it will not be possible to avoid the capture of a camera on the lookout…
1910: The first “public” photo
Thanks to the impulse of Count Güell, the main patron of Gaudí, between April 15 and June 30, 1910, the architect was the object of an exhibition in Paris, the only one outside of Spain that was dedicated to him during his lifetime. The exhibition showed plans, models and photographs of his works, highlighting the Sagrada Familia, Park Güell and Palau Güell. One of those photographs was that of the architect himself, who became the first to be made public and, for this reason, much reproduced later. However, faithful to his aversion to public recognitions, Gaudí refused to attend the exhibition.
Official photo by Gaudí for the 1910 Paris exhibition. Source: Wikipedia
On the other hand, a very different reason kept him away not only from Paris but from anywhere else. Social tensions, such as the Tragic Week of 1909, and the wear and tear accumulated in previous years, the most productive, led the teacher to suffer a serious crisis. In the end, he had to take a break. He will do so in Vic, the city where his great friend Josep Torres i Bages was bishop. Despite residing in the palace of a rich landowner, Gaudí – faithful to his modest character – chose the most modest room in the house and insisted on preserving his ascetic lifestyle. However, the rest had no effect and in the spring of the following year, the architect fell ill again. Probably brucellosis, a bacterial disease of animal transmission. This time he went to Puigcerdà, a small town located in the Pyrenees, in the company of another great friend, Dr. Pere Santaló. There they stayed at the Hotel Europa, in the center of the villa. During the first weeks, the architect could not move from the bed and even came to make a will. Around autumn, he recovered his energies, and will return to Barcelona. They were waiting for him many times to be photographed…
1914-1915. Gaudí, “tourist guide of himself”
Four years after the exhibition in Paris, Gaudí’s photos as a “guide of himself” become increasingly numerous. In fact, they are the images that have contributed to shaping the myth of genius, like an old man with the white beard with the Sagrada Familia in the background. However, the temple is not his last work. We remember that the commission had accepted it in 1883, when he was still a little-known and reserved young architect, and of which, consequently, almost no photo is preserved. Three decades later, that young man had become a true celebrity. Here we see him in the company of the president of the Diputación de Barcelona, Prat de la Riba, and the bishop of the city, Enric Reig i Casanova, in 1914.
Gaudí teaching the Sagrada Familia to the bishop of Barcelona, Enrique Reig Casanova, and to the president of the Commonwealth of Catalonia, Enric Prat de la Riba, 30 November 1914. Source: Wikipedia.
In this other, Gaudí shows the Holy Family to the apostolic nuncio of Rome, Cardinal Francesc Ragonesi, in 1915. On that occasion, the Cardinal described Gaudí with a phrase that has become famous: “the Dante of Architecture”. They are not the only photographs, but we cannot upload them all. On the other hand, these photos were taken in parallel to the advances in the construction of the Sagrada Familia.
Visit of the Nuncio Ragonesi to the Sagrada Familia. Author: Josep Branguli, 1915. Source: Wikipedia
1919: The secret passion of Gaudí: music
Contrary to the stereotype of a mystical and hermit genius, confined to his last work, the architect maintained contact with the outside world. Only towards the end did the pace of interactions decrease, however, only because their ills prevented it. In particular, Gaudí was a great lover of music. In addition, it was an activity that could be afforded with great ease because one of his best friends was Lluís Milet. Notable conductor and composer, Millet was also a great cultural promoter. With other musicians, he founded the Orfeó Català and the Palau de la Música Catalana. Gaudí was a regular spectator.
In 1916, he even took part in a Gregorian singing course, the master’s main hobby. We remember that he was run over when he was going to the church of San Felipe Neri, where he often went because, in addition to the mass, he could also practice this form of music. A graphic document from that course has been preserved. In it, we see him with his classmates, including Louis Miletus. Now, reserved as it was, it appears a little hidden in the middle of the rest of the group
Upper course of Gregorian singing, Palau de la Música Catalana, June 1916. Source: Archive of the Catalan Orfeó1920: The genius under the hat, or in profile…
In short, Gaudí not only spent the last years of his life receiving visits to the Sagrada Familia, but participating in different cultural activities, despite the personal misfortunes. Sometimes the visitors were his friends. Here we see him in the company of the already mentioned Lluís Milet. Two photographs were taken that day. In a Gaudí hides his face with his hat. In the following, a bit of a mockery again, just show the profile. At his side, Miletus seems to be laughing at his friend’s gesture.
Gaudí walking with Lluís Millet, 1920. Orfeó Documentation Center. Source: blog Museu Nacional d’Art de Catalunya.
On the 11th of 1924: The year of the procession and detention…
Towards the end of his life, the number 11 is repeated in the biography of Gaudí. For example, on June 11, 1924, the last photograph of the master was taken. He was seventy-two years old. In it, we see him as part of the Corpus Christi procession in the cathedral of Barcelona. It is accompanied by members of the Cercle Artístic de Sant Lluc, an important institution of its time, of which other well-known artists were members and, among others, the Figueras family, the first owners of Torre Bellesguard.
Antoni Gaudí in the Corpus Christi procession, 16/06/1924. Author: Author: Brangulí. National Archive of Catalonia.
On 11 September of that same year, Gaudí was arrested when he wanted to attend the church of Sants Just i Pastor, located not far from the stage of the previous photo, the cathedral of Barcelona. His intention was to participate in a mass held in honor of the Catalans who fell during the siege of Barcelona in 1714, but the recent dictatorship of Primo de Ribera had forbidden it (see: a forbidden mass) That day, however, there were no photographers nearby.
June 11, 1926. The Last Portrait
In January 1925, Llorenç Matamala suffered a stroke or stroke and remained in bed in precarious conditions. Gaudí then left the house of Park Güell and spent the nights in an improvised room in the Sagrada Família workshop. His friend’s family lived in a house very close to the temple. Every night, he’ll go see it. All but the June 7, 1926…
That day 7, Llorenç is surprised that Don Anton, as he called it, did not visit him. Neither that day nor the next. He did not know that his beloved friend had just been run over. Don Anton died on June 10. He had two weeks to turn seventy-four. Llorenç will still survive him one more year, but without leaving the bed.
The next day, another day 11, the main newspapers were told about the death. To illustrate it, two drawings were made. One of them was by Ricard Opisso, a cartoonist who began working with the teacher at the age of twelve, as a delineator, and who became one of the great graphic chroniclers of his time (3). The second was signed by Joaquin Renart, a great modernist artist and one of the presidents of the Cercle Artístic de Sant Lluc and the Orfeó Català, two institutions that, as we have already said, were frequented by Gaudí.
“Antoni Gaudí agonizante”. Dibujo aparecido a la portada del diario “La Publicidad”, el 11 de junio de 1926. Ricard Opisso. Font: Reus digital.
“The death of the architect Antoni Gaudí”, June 12, 1926. Joaquim Renart. Source: Biblioteca de Catalunya.
“The death of the architect Antoni Gaudí”, June 12, 1926. Joaquim Renart. Source: Biblioteca de Catalunya.
The eyes are closed.
We’re coming to the end. Let us remember the beginning.
On March 15, 1878, Gaudí finished his studies. He was twenty-six. I needed a photograph. It was the first one ever made. That day, Gaudí, with his usual sense of humor, told his friend the sculptor Llorenç Matamala: “Llorenç, they say I am already an architect.”. Forty-eight years later, the son of this same friend, Joan Matamala, also a sculptor, would be in charge of making a bust from his mortuary mask, the early morning of June 11, 1926. Curiously, that day was the feast of Saint Barnabas, the saint of the only bell tower that the architect saw finished before his eyes closed forever.
Portrait of Antoni Gaudí I Cornet. March 15, 1878. Author: Pablo Audouard, Source: Wikipedia.
Notes
(1) Lahueta, Juan José (2021), Gaudí, National Art Museum of Catalonia, p.49
(2) Bassegoda Nonell, Joan, El maestro Gaudí, Pagès editors, Barcelona, p.168-174.
(3) Writing: “Salt in the light an unpublished portrait of Gaudí”, Antoni Gaudí Foundation.
This drawing appeared on June 11, 1926 in a magazine called La Publicitat, but soon after, the trace of the drawing was lost. To see it again it was necessary to wait for 2019, the year that the Gothsland gallery showed it within the framework of the exhibition “Barcelona and Els Quatre Gats”. Until then, the portrait had been part of a private collection. At the bottom of the image we see the artist’s signature in Catalan and a short title: “Antoni Gaudí dying. Drawing by Opisso”. At one end of the cushion, we also distinguish the foot of a cross.
According to Gabriel Pinós, the director of the gallery probably wrote this phrase the editor of La Publicitat, since the illustration served as the cover of this newspaper on June 11, 1926, to echo the death of Gaudí a day earlier.
