Between: gaudi

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Monday, 2 March 2026

Artlyst: Art Diary March 2026

For my March 2026 diary for Artlyst, I begin with several exhibitions and other events to visit this season. Lent is a season when churches often have a significant encounter with art. These include Southwark, Portsmouth and Winchester Cathedrals, St Mary’s Guildford, and Goldsmiths College. Exhibitions exploring the religious inspirations of artists, including Gwen John and Anna Ancher, can also be found at the National Museum Cardiff, Dulwich Picture Gallery, Compton Verney, and Grand Palais, Paris. Architectural inspirations can be found in exhibitions featuring John Piper, Antoni Gaudí, and Sir John Vanbrugh. I end with exhibitions exploring aspects of mental health, ordinary life, and our sources of wisdom at venues including Two Temple Place, Tache, and Centre for Contemporary Arts, Tashkent.

For more on Gwen John see here, here and here, on Sophie Hacker see here and here, on John Piper see here, on Antoni Gaudi see here and here, and on Neil Tye see here.

My other pieces for Artlyst are:

Interviews -

Monthly diary articles -

Articles/Reviews -

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Robert Plant - Gospel Plough.

Friday, 30 May 2025

Seen and Unseen: The late Pope Francis was right – Antoni Gaudi truly was God’s architect

My latest article for Seen and U nsee n is entitled 'The late Pope Francis was right – Antoni Gaudi truly was God’s architect' and explores how sanctity can indeed be found amongst scaffolding, as Gaudi’s Barcelona beauties amply demonstrate:

'In welcoming the news that Gaudí had been declared Venerable, Cardinal Juan José Omella, Archbishop of Barcelona, said “It is a recognition not only of his architectural work but something more important.” He continued: “He is saying you... amid life's difficulties, amid work, amid pain, amid suffering, are destined to be saints.” Ultimately, he notes, “Gaudí’s life and work show us how beauty and holiness can transform the world” as they include the “recognition that sanctity can be found amid scaffolding, suffering, sublime obsession.”'

For more on Antoni Gaudí see here and here.

My first article for Seen and Unseen was 'Life is more important than art' which reviews the themes of recent art exhibitions that tackle life’s big questions and the roles creators take.

My second article 'Corinne Bailey Rae’s energised and anguished creative journey' explores inspirations in Detroit, Leeds and Ethiopia for Corinne Bailey Rae’s latest album, Black Rainbows, which is an atlas of capacious faith.

My third article was an interview with musician and priest Rev Simpkins in which we discussed how music is an expression of humanity and his faith.

My fourth article was a guide to the Christmas season’s art, past and present. Traditionally at this time of year “great art comes tumbling through your letterbox” so, in this article, I explore the historic and contemporary art of Christmas.

My fifth article was 'Finding the human amid the wreckage of migration'. In this article I interviewed Shezad Dawood about his multimedia Leviathan exhibition at Salisbury Cathedral where personal objects recovered from ocean depths tell a story of modern and ancient migrations.

My sixth article was 'The visionary artists finding heaven down here' in which I explored a tradition of visionary artists whose works shed light on the material and spiritual worlds.

My seventh article was 'How the incomer’s eye sees identity' in which I explain how curating an exhibition for Ben Uri Online gave me the chance to highlight synergies between ancient texts and current issues.

My eighth article was 'Infernal rebellion and the questions it asks' in which I interview the author Nicholas Papadopulos about his book The Infernal Word: Notes from a Rebel Angel.

My ninth article was 'A day, night and dawn with Nick Cave’s lyrics' in which I review Adam Steiner’s Darker With The Dawn — Nick Cave’s Songs Of Love And Death and explore whether Steiner's rappel into Cave’s art helps us understand its purpose.

My 10th article was 'Theresa Lola's poetical hope' about the death-haunted yet lyrical, joyful and moving poet for a new generation.

My 11th article was 'How to look at our world: Aaron Rosen interview', exploring themes from Rosen's book 'What Would Jesus See: Ways of Looking at a Disorienting World'.

My 12th article was 'Blake, imagination and the insight of God', exploring a new exhibition - 'William Blake's Universe at the Fitzwilliam Museum - which focuses on seekers of spiritual regeneration and national revival.

My 13th article 'Matthew Krishanu: painting childhood' was an interview with Matthew Krishanu on his exhibition 'The Bough Breaks' at Camden Art Centre.

My 14th article was entitled 'Art makes life worth living' and explored why society, and churches, need the Arts.

My 15th article was entitled 'The collective effervescence of sport's congregation' and explored some of the ways in which sport and religion have been intimately entwined throughout history

My 16th article was entitled 'Paradise cottage: Milton reimagin’d' and reviewed the ways in which artist Richard Kenton Webb is conversing with the blind poet in his former home (Milton's Cottage, Chalfont St Giles).

My 17th article was entitled 'Controversial art: how can the critic love their neighbour?'. It makes suggestions of what to do when confronted with contentious culture.

My 18th article was an interview entitled 'Art, AI and apocalypse: Michael Takeo Magruder addresses our fears and questions'. In the interview the digital artist talks about the possibilities and challenges of artificial intelligence.

My 19th article was entitled 'Dark, sweet and subtle: recovered music orientates us'. In the article I highlight alt-folk music seeking inspiration from forgotten hymns.

My 20th article was entitled 'Revisiting Amazing Grace inspires new songs'. In the article I highlight folk musicians capturing both the barbaric and the beautiful in the hymn Amazing Grace and Christianity's entanglement with the transatlantic slave trade more generally.

My 21st article was entitled 'James MacMillan’s music of tranquility and discord'. In the article I noted that the composer’s music contends both the secular and sacred.

My 22nd article was a book review on Nobody's Empire by Stuart Murdoch. 'Nobody's Empire: A Novel is the fictionalised account of how ... Murdoch, lead singer of indie band Belle and Sebastian, transfigured his experience of Myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME) through faith and music.'

My 23rd article was entitled 'Rock ‘n’ roll’s long dance with religion'. The article explores how popular music conjures sacred space.

My 24th article was an interview with Alastair Gordon on the artist’s attention which explores why the overlooked and everyday capture the creative gaze.

My 25th article was about Stanley Spencer’s seen and unseen world and the artist’s child-like sense of wonder as he saw heaven everywhere.

My 26th article was entitled 'The biblical undercurrent that the Bob Dylan biopics missed' and in it I argue that the best of Dylan’s work is a contemporary Pilgrim, Dante or Rimbaud on a compassionate journey.

My 27th article was entitled 'Heading Home: a pilgrimage that breaks out beauty along the way' and focuses on a film called 'Heading Home' which explores how we can learn a new language together as we travel.

My 28th article was entitled 'Annie Caldwell: “My family is my band”' and showcased a force of nature voice that comes from the soul.

My 29th article was entitled 'Why sculpt the face of Christ?' and explored how, in Nic Fiddian Green’s work, we feel pain, strength, fear and wisdom.

My 30th article was entitled 'How Mumford and friends explore life's instability' and explored how Mumford and Sons, together with similar bands, commune on fallibility, fear, grace, and love.

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Iain Archer - The Acrobet.

Monday, 28 April 2025

Antoni Gaudí: The Venerable mystic master of Catalan Modernism

The Vatican recently announced that the mystic master of Catalan Modernism, Antoni Gaudí, long known as “God’s architect,” has officially been declared Venerable by the late Pope Francis, the first formal recognition of his “heroic virtues” by the Catholic Church. This decree nudges the visionary designer of Barcelona’s Sagrada Família closer to sainthood—a campaign in the making for over two decades.

Following a visit to Barcelona to see many of Gaudí's buildings, I wrote two pieces for ArtWay about him. See here and here:

"Gaudí is the great sculptor who utilises natural form in his work both for utilitarian and aesthetic reasons. He described nature as ‘the Great Book, always open, that we should force ourselves to read’ and, as [Robert] Hughes recognised, thought that ‘everything structural or ornamental that an architect might imagine was already prefigured in natural form, in limestone grottoes or dry bones, in a beetle's shining wing case or the thrust of an ancient olive trunk.’

As a result first and overall impressions of his work are ones of exuberance and abundance characterised by the sinuous, sensuous curves and colours of his works. Whether we are encountering the shifting sea-like blues of the Casa Batlló, the abstract collage of the wave-like trencadis bench at Park Güell or the whirlpool-like undulations on the ceiling at Casa Milà, Gaudí's work possesses an ecstatic sense of natural beauty."

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The Oh Hello's - Soldier, Poet, King.

Friday, 17 August 2018

Cathedral de Mallorca: Le Seu

The Cathedral of Santa Maria of Palma is more commonly referred to as La Seu. Its construction began in the 13th century. It is a Levantine Gothic-style cathedral (characterised by using a German-style hall layout) and has one of the largest rose windows in the world, known as “the Gothic eye”. Its nave is also one of the highest in any European Gothic cathedral.

During the 17th and 18th centuries the Baroque started to fill the inside of the Cathedral in the form of altarpieces, paintings and sculptures shaped by the spirituality of the period following the Council of Trent, including such emblematic pieces as the Corpus Christi altarpiece by Jaume Blanquer, the cloister and the new chapter house.

After the earthquake of 1851, the main façade was left in a precarious condition and so Bishop Miquel Salvà Munar entrusted its restoration to the architect Juan Bautista Peyronet.

At the start of the 20th century, the architect Antoni Gaudí adapted the Cathedral to meet new liturgical and pastoral requirements. His work, requested by Bishop Pere Joan Campins, continued from 1904 to 1914. The principal changes that Gaudí made to the cathedral were:

The removal of the gothic choir stalls from the centre of the nave, and its relocation in the presbytery, around the high altar. In addition, Josep Maria Jujol added lively colors to the stalls that did not go over too well with the priests.
The removal and recycling of the mudejar wooden candle gallery from the walls of the Capilla Real.
Decoration of the presbytery with ceramic tiling, representing the crests of the bishops of Mallorca, surrounded by olive-tree branches, with inscriptions in Latin on the wall that surround the episcopal throne.
Removal the baroque retablo (high altar) from the presbytery, that was moved the to the Church of Santa Catalina.
Removal of the gothic retablo and reinstalled it at the Puerta del Mirador.
Placing the high altar table in front of the uncovered episcopal throne, formerly hidden by the gothic and baroque retablos.
Placing of a forged iron railing for the presbytery.
Placing forged iron lamps and candelabras of various designs.
Placing two canopies above the high altar.
Building two galleries for cantors on each side of the presbytery, made up of plateresque elements.
Relocation of the two pulpits on the two nearest columns from the high altar, one of which was never completed, and the canopy of the big one was later removed in January 1970.
In addition, various chandeliers were installed in the entrance to the Capilla Real and in the aisles.

Two more important contributions that Gaudí made to the beautiful cathedral are the furniture and the stained-glass windows. Among the furniture, the highlights include the bench for the officiants at the altar, a stool, a lectern and the beautiful folding stairway that allows access to the exposition of the Holy Sacrament. In this cathedral, Gaudí used a new method for giving colour to the stained-glass windows, consisting of superimposing three glass sections in the primary colors (yellow, blue and red). His intention was to test the technique before implementing in the Sagrada Familia. He also restored the rose windows and stained-glass windows that had been walled over.

The inside of the Cathedral provides a great sensation of space and structural lightness, accentuated by the characteristics of the octagonal columns that divide the nave from the aisles, made out of sandstone from the quarries of Santanyí and Galdent (Llucmajor): just 14 columns divide the nave from the aisles, seven on each side. These divide the different sections. They are widely spaced (7.74 m.), are extremely slender and, above all, are very high (21.47 m). This sensation of lightness increases with the effects of the light that enters the Cathedral through the 7 rose windows and 83 windows – some installed during the last twenty years – and characterises the inside of the Cathedral. All of this has led to the Cathedral being known as “the Cathedral of light”.

The Chapel of the Holy Eucharist is the work of the Majorcan artist Miquel Barceló from between 2001 and 2006, following which the chapel was rededicated to the Holy Eucharist. The installation represents the miracle of Jesus multiplying the loaves and the fish for his followers. Cracked ceramic covers the chapel’s walls creating a cavelike feel while sculpted fish, bread, fruit, and human skulls feature prominently in the panoramic relief. The chapel’s stone furniture and darkened stained glass windows complete the scene’s dramatic effect.

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Aretha Franklin - Bridge Over Troubled Water.

Monday, 13 August 2018

Sóller: Miro, Picasso, Rubió & Can Prunera Museu Modernista

The town of Sóller is located on the northwest coast of the island of Mallorca and has two buildings by the architect Joan Rubió i Bellver.

Rubió was a keen disciple of Antoni Gaudí collaborating with him until 1905 on such works as the restoration of La Seu (the cathedral of Palma de Mallorca). Rubió went to Mallorca to collaborate with Gaudí on the Cathedral but his contacts with the curia provided him with other works on the island. Rector Sebastià Maymó, a good friend of Bishop Campins who commissioned Gaudí to work on the Cathedral, hired Rubió to design the façade for the parish church in Sóller, which had yet to be finished. He designed a traditional Gothic façade, but gave it what could be considered a Modernista interpretation. Work began in 1904 and ended in 1913 because of a lack of funding, and it was not completed until 1946. Rubió also designed the Banc de Sóller (1909-1912), a large grey ashlar building with asymmetrical windows covered by semicircular arches and a double semicircular overhanging corner gallery. The Banco de Sóller is remarkable for its intricate ironwork (wrought iron).

Can Prunera Museu Modernista is located in an old art nouveau mansion built in the early 20th century. Can Prunera, together with other buildings such as the Grand Hotel, Can Forteza Rey and Can Casasayas, the three of them in Palma, belongs to a large set of buildings erected in the early 20th century following the models of Catalan Modernisme and French Art-nouveau.

The visit starts in the ground and main floor rooms, containing some of the original furniture (tables, chairs, beds, wardrobes and showcases with a clear ornamental richness). In those same rooms, paintings and sculptures are shown. Most of the works displayed at Can Prunera Museu Modernista belong to the Serra Art Collection and this collection’s masterpieces encompass works by important artists from the 19th and 20th centuries, such as Joan Miró, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Paul Klee, Fernand Léger and Maurice Vlaminck; painters who were either born in Mallorca or have some link to the island and have reached international recognition are also included. These include Santiago Rusiñol, Joaquim Mir, Joan Fuster, Eliseu Meifrén, Ritch Miller and Miquel Barceló. Another important section of the Serra Art Collection is to be found in the paintings of the permanent collection, by Juli Ramis,

In the basement, there are the rooms popularly known as botigues: the old room containing a kitchen stove, an olive oil tank, a sink and a well, which can still be seen; a refectory for the domestic service –which nowadays hosts temporary exhibitions– and the storage rooms –today devoted to Juli Ramis, where works from three of the most characteristic periods of this painter from Sóller are shown: early years, Cubism and abstract works. In the garden, visitors can contemplate the inner façade of the house and the collection of sculptures displayed.

Biblically themed works on show included a bronze by Arnaldo Pomorodo dedicated to Pere A. Serra, an image of the Miracle at Cana by Calvo Carridôn plus a collection of drawings by Josep Maria Subirachs i Sitjar.

There are currently two temporary exhibitions. The Incarnate Spirits by Pep Girbent (Sóller, 1969) presents seven painting based on images from iconic films which introduce several overlapping discourses. The task I have set myself is none other than to untangle these interlocking blocks of thought, out of which, like the tips of icebergs, the seven paintings that comprise this exhibition emerge. The other is Joan Ramon Bonet. The photographer’s vision; in which photographs by Bonet of various artists are shown alongside examples of each artist's work.

The station and ticket office building at Sóller house a permanent exhibition of two of Spain's most famous modern artists, Pablo Picasso and Joan Miro. Aptly housed together because the two artists enjoyed a long friendship until the death of Picasso in 1973, the collection contains ceramics by Picasso and lithographs and paintings by Miro, as well as several photographs of the pair together. The Miro gallery includes his interpretation of Francesc d'Assis: Càntic del Sol, 1975.

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Brother Sun, Sister Moon.