About the Gaudi Mural

This piece is based on the work of Antoni Gaudi (1852-1926,) a famous Catalan architect. His buildings are to be found all over Barcelona, and exemplify "Catalan modernism." Gaudi's magnum opus was the Cathedral of the Sagrada Familia, a project so ambitious that it is still under construction after almost a hundred years.

The shapes in the mural are specifically a reference to the mosaics lining the benches of Parc Güell, Barcelona's foremost tourist attraction. Built from 1900 to 1914, it was intended as an ideal neighborhood, but they only ended up building two houses. The patterns in some of the mosaic shards are Arabic in origin, which hearkens back to Spain's time under Muslim rule in the middle ages. For the original mosaics, Gaudi used discarded porcelain and sea glass. Wine bottles would wash up on the beach, which is why so many of the shards are green.