The Who’s Who of Catalan Artists

Anyone visiting Barcelona can hardly avoid coming across at least one of his buildings. Among other things, the famous Catalan architect (1852-1926) is responsible for the Sagrada Familia, designed Park Güell and Casa Batlló, and is considered one of the most important representatives of Catalan Modernism. Many of his works are now designated UNESCO World Cultural Heritage sites. Gaudi himself carries the unofficial title of “God’s Architect”.

Arguably the most important contemporary Catalan director, Serra is also one of the most extraordinary in today’s film business. Albert Serra works with maximum reduction and likes using amateur actors at the scene of action. Dialogs are improvised, while perfect resolution and lighting are less important to him than intensity and a focus on the essentials, namely a good story and credible characters. Films such as “HISTÒRIA DE LA MEVA MORT” (STORY OF MY DEATH, 2013) have gained global recognition and received several prizes; his debut “Honor de Cavalleria” (2006) was also screened in a Double Feature at the SCHIRN as the favorite film of Marine Hugonnier.

The famous Spanish Surrealist and eccentric was also a native Catalan. Dalí was born in 1904 in Figueres close to the French border and spent his childhood there. Later he moved to Madrid and would subsequently spend time in Paris, London and New York, before finally returning to Figueres. Salvador Dalí died at the age of 84. His burial took place in the same church where he was christened and confirmed.

Mercè Rodoreda is considered a genius of Catalan literature. She is one of the few well-known authors from the region to write in Catalan. Her novel “La plaça del Diamant” became world famous as “The Time of The Doves” and was translated into over 30 languages. Rodoreda wrote the story whilst she was in exile in an associative narrative style. It is about a young woman in Barcelona before, during and after the Spanish Civil War.

Born in 1894 in Barcelona, the poet is considered one of the most important and successful Catalan authors of the past century. In addition to novels he published numerous volumes of poetry, plays, as well as essays and articles, and translated important works by Dante, Molière, Gogol and Shakespeare. That said, Sagarra was also one of the most controversial Catalans: The nobility held it against him that he published unfavorable details in his stories from the life of the upper classes, while the circle of Catalan artists and intellectuals criticized him for supporting the regime at the latest when he accepted a special honor from Franco’s government in 1960.