The Suffering of Jesus
The Suffering of Jesus is a part of the Passion Facade at the Sagrada Familia Church in Barcelona, Spain. The sculpture was created by Josep Maria Subirachs, a controversial artist known for not making any concessions to the style of the architect who designed the building, Antoni Gaudi.
Antoni Gaudí was a Catalan, born in Reus, a small town south of Barcelona. He went to the capital to study architecture, and upon completion of his studies, the director of the school commented “Today we have given an architecture degree to a madman or to a genius”. He started work on the Sagrada Familia when he was only 31 years old.
Gaudí was never appreciated until after his death. During the last days of his life he had lost everything with no family, no money and no property. He was often mistaken for a beggar and on June 7, 1926, he was knocked down by a tram and died shortly afterwards at the age of 73. After his death his works were criticized and completely forgotten until 1950, when artists such as Salvador Dalí and the architect Josep Luip Sert paid homage to him.
Gaudí is now recognized as one of the world’s most outstanding architects. Seven properties built by Gaudí are on the UNESCO World Heritage list, and his work is one of Barcelona’s main cultural attractions.
