Visions of Space: Antoni Gaudi
Eminent art critic and broadcaster Robert Hughes explores the work of Antoni Gaudi, Albert Speer and Mies Van der Rohe. Gaudi, whose stunningly decorated frontages and molded interiors are so admired in Barcelona, used space to testify to the power of religion. Albert Speer, known as `Hitler's architect`, was inspired by the power of the state: Hitler commissioned him to design the German exhibit at the Paris Exhibition in 1937, the Reich Chancellery in Berlin and the Party Palace in Nuremberg. Van der Rohe, inspired by the power of the corporation, became famous for his dictum `less is more`. He strove to create contemplative, neutral spaces through an architecture based on material honesty and structural integrity and his works are testament to a life dedicated to the idea of a universal, simplified architecture. Robert Hughes returns to Spain to explore the legacy of Antoni Gaudi, the last great cathedral builder of the 20th century. Gaudi was an intensely Catholic celibate who, despite his austere life, created some of the most sensuous buildings ever known. On his journey through Gaudi's life and work, Hughes (an ex-Catholic himself) explains how a man as religious and conservative as Gaudi could become such an innovative 20th-century giant.