TL;DR
Antoni Gaudí (1852–1926) was a Catalan architect who revolutionised architecture by treating nature as his school. He devoted the last 43 years of his life entirely to the Sagrada Família, living like an ascetic monk on the building site. He died after being struck by a tram in 1926 and is buried in the crypt of the building he spent his life creating. The Catholic Church is currently pursuing his beatification.
Where Did Gaudí Come From?
Antoni Gaudí i Cornet was born on 25 June 1852 in Reus, Catalonia. His father and grandfather were both coppersmiths, crafting three-dimensional forms from metal. Gaudí later said this upbringing gave him an innate sense of three-dimensional space that formal architecture education could never have taught him.
As a child, Gaudí suffered from severe joint pain that prevented him from walking to school on many days. He spent that time observing nature closely: the branching patterns of trees, the geometry of shells, the structural logic of bones. These observations became the foundation of his entire architectural philosophy.
He moved to Barcelona to study architecture in 1869 and graduated in 1878. His professor reportedly said: "We have just given this degree either to a genius or a madman." It turned out to be both.
What Was Gaudí's Architectural Philosophy?
Gaudí's architecture was rooted in three principles: nature as the supreme structural model, Catholicism as the source of meaning and symbolism, and Catalonia as the cultural identity to celebrate. He believed that straight lines belong to men, but curved lines belong to God. Almost nothing he designed contains a straight line.
His structural innovations were decades ahead of their time. He invented the catenary arch (the shape a hanging chain makes under gravity) as an inherently stable structural form. He tested his designs using upside-down models with hanging strings weighted with small bags of lead shot. The shape the strings took would be the structurally perfect arch when flipped. These models are partially reconstructed at the Sagrada Família museum.
His use of hyperboloid, paraboloid, and helicoidal shapes to distribute weight without external buttresses was validated by computer modelling decades after his death. He got the engineering right using intuition and physical models that no mathematician of his era could have calculated. See our full architecture guide for a breakdown of these structural systems.
His Greatest Works Beyond the Sagrada Família
Passeig de Gràcia 43. The dragon-spine roofline and scaled ceramic facade make it one of Barcelona's most iconic buildings.
The undulating stone apartment building often called the quarry. The rooftop warrior sculptures are unforgettable.
The hillside park with the famous mosaic terrace and gingerbread gatehouse. Originally intended as a residential development.
Gaudí's first major commission from industrialist Eusebi Güell. The rooftop chimneys are covered in ceramic mosaic.
How Did Gaudí Die?
On 7 June 1926, Gaudí was struck by a tram on the Gran Via de les Corts Catalanes in Barcelona. In his final years, he had given away all his wealth and dressed so simply that passersby assumed he was a beggar. No one at the scene recognised him. He was taken to a pauper's hospital. By the time friends identified him the next day, he could not be moved. He died on 10 June 1926, aged 73.
His funeral drew tens of thousands of people through the streets of Barcelona. He is buried in the crypt of the Sagrada Família, beneath the chapel of Our Lady of Carmen. You can visit the crypt and see his tomb as part of any standard entry ticket.
In his last years, Gaudí would often say about the Sagrada Família: "My client is not in a hurry." He never expected to see the building completed and designed it so that future generations could continue the work according to his principles. Learn more in our construction timeline guide.