Hispanic Icon Series 1

Antonio Gaudí (1852-1926)
Gaudí was one of the world’s greatest architects. No trip to Barcelona is complete without visiting his majestic buildings, parks, and monuments. He studied at the School of Architecture in Barcelona, and became the most famous exponent of Catalán “modernism”, one of the branches of the Art Nouveau movement. He is best known for the extravagant and ornate Church of the Holy Family in Barcelona, which occupied him from 1884 until his death. The Sagrada Familia Church is a work in progress; it will take many years before Gaudí’s masterful and detailed designs come to fruition.




Federico García Lorca (1898-1936)
Federico García Lorca is Spain’s most deeply appreciated and highly revered poet and dramatist. His murder by the Nationalists at the start of the Spanish Civil War brought sudden international fame. He must now be bracketed with Machado as one of the two greatest poets Spain produced in the 20th century, and he is certainly Spain’s greatest dramatist since the 16th century. His reputation as a playwright rests mainly on the three “folk tragedies”: Blood Wedding, Yerma, and The House of Bernarda Alba. The setting of this trilogy recalls some of his poetry, deeply associated with earth, blood, sex, water, fertility, death, and the moon. These plays are richly poetic, with an almost ritualized primitivism. They have captivated audiences around the world for decades.