A pocket-sized encapsulation of massive structures and ideas, this book manages to make Gaudí’s world feel both intimate and immense. Joan Bassegoda i Nonell, one of the leading scholars on Gaudí, writes with calm authority and clear admiration, guiding readers through the artist’s evolution from his early experiments to the soaring complexity of his later works. Melba Levick’s photographs, though small, glow with texture and color. You can almost feel the rough stone of Casa Milà or see the light shifting through Sagrada Família’s stained glass.
I found myself slowing down to study details I might have rushed past in person: a curve that feels alive, a mosaic that looks like water, a ceiling that feels closer to sky than structure. Even though the format is compact, the ideas inside it expand outward, making you think differently about what architecture can do.
What stood out to me most was how Bassegoda i Nonell describes Gaudí’s creativity as something rooted in close observation of nature. He doesn’t just build to impress or overwhelm, but to understand. The more I read and stared, the more I noticed how his buildings feel alive, like they’re growing up from the earth instead of being placed on top of it.
I imagine many readers will carry this book when they finally visit Sagrada Família after its completion in 2026. I hope to be one of them, standing beneath its branching columns with this little guide in hand, feeling both small and full of wonder.
Allegra on Art & Architecture 