Casa Vicens: Gaudí’s First Masterpiece in Barcelona

Antoni Gaudí, the famous Catalan architect who designed the great Sagrada Família in Barcelona, has his own museum in the Casa Vicens. The building was the first house that Gaudí designed and is seen as one of the first projects in the Art Nouveau style. 

The museum director Joan Abellà explains:

The museum is attempting to preserve the essence of Gaudí as much as possible, even deciding not to furnish the rooms for an important reason. It is now a living work and we have made every effort to bring back the essence of Gaudí. There are no photos of how the house was furnished in 1885 and therefore it has been decided that it will not be furnished.

Joan Abellà, quoted in My Modern Met.

Casa Vicens was built as a summer residence between 1883 and 1885; it was designed by the 31-year-old Gaudí for Manuel Vicens i Montaner, a broker-dealer and factory owner in the outskirts of Barcelona. It was the first significant commission of the architect. Casa Vicens is composed of different forms than those we are used to seeing in other buildings designed by Gaudí. The specialists are considering this building as a part of Gaudí’s Orientalist period which lasted from 1883 to 1888. Gaudí was then inspired by Hispano-Arabic, or Moorish tradition.

After the death of the initial owner, the building was in the possession of different individuals. Finally, Casa Vicens was bought by a private capital investment firm in 2014 in order to establish a museum focused on the story of the great architect. The house was opened on November 2017 to the public. Thanks to this initiative, we can today admire the extraordinary architecture of this building and learn about the life of Antoni Gaudí.