Early Years
Architect Antoni Gaudí was born in Catalonia on the Mediterranean coast of Spain on June 25, 1852. He showed an early interest in architecture, and went to study in Barcelona—Spain's most modern city at the time—circa 1870. After his studies were interrupted by military service, Gaudí graduated from the Provincial School of Architecture in 1878.
Development as a Professional Architect
Upon graduation, Gaudí initially worked in the artistic vein of his Victorian predecessors, but he soon developed his own style, composing his works with juxtapositions of geometric masses and animating the surfaces with patterned brick or stone, bright ceramic tiles and floral or reptilian metalwork. The salamander in Park Güell, for instance, is representative of Gaudí's work.