Barcelona and modernisme
Industrial Catalonia sought an art of its own. In Barcelona’s new district, the Eixample, Antoni Gaudí, Lluís Domènech i Montaner and Josep Puig i Cadafalch built a Catalan Art Nouveau.
Ildefons Cerdà’s plan of 1859 laid a grid of blocks with cut-off corners over the plain outside Barcelona’s medieval walls. Along the Passeig de Gràcia Gaudí’s Casa Batlló and Casa Milà were built, and Domènech i Montaner designed the Palau de la Música Catalana, a concert hall with walls of glass.
From 1883 until his death in 1926 Gaudí worked on the Sagrada Família, which is still being built and has become one of the most visited buildings in the world.