After visiting the Park Guell we had tickets for Casa Vicens, a short 15 minute walk from the park. Our tickets were for a specific 20 minute slot, so figured “here we go again, I’m going to be elbowing somebody out of the way before the day is done!” Imagine my surprise when we walked in and we were practically the only ones there!
I asked the lady at the front where the tourists were, and she said “don’t say anything, we don’t want it ruined like the rest of the city”. She further explained that Casa Vicens was a private residence up until 2014, and had just opened as a museum in November 2017, so nobody knows about it yet (particularly not the throngs of self-obsessed “selfie zombies”). Wow…what a welcome surprise! I think there were maybe 20 other people the entire time we were there.
This was Gaudi’s first home as an architecht, so his style was a little more restrained than in later projects. It still has a very distinctive Gaudi style. This is the view from the street.
Manel Vicens was a stockbroker, and he commissioned a young 31-year-old Gaudi to design this as his summer home. It was Gaudi’s first home design, and he took advantage of the opportunity to design something special.
The fence along the front has this palm leaf design since there were palms planted in the garden area. He wanted the fence and the house to mimic the garden area, an idea that showed up in other areas of the house. The top of the fence also appears to make an excellent security system. Maybe somebody should show this design to Trump?
This is the exterior of a covered porch area. Just gorgeous! Not sure what the story is about the Dreamcatcher in the fountain, but it works for me!
On the inside of the porch is this stunning ceiling. More fan palms. It nearly looks like sky filtering through the palms, but that’s just a painting. Really beautiful woodwork as well.
The next 2 photos are of the Smoking Room. Not much for smoking….but still a very cool room! I just love all of the colors. No way I’d let somebody smoke in there though!
This is the ceiling of the Domed Room. This is supposed to be a simple sitting room. Around my house every room not the bedroom is a “sitting room”. I’m not real big on standing around.
The next 2 photos are the Blue Room, where I’m assuming Mr Vicens went when he was sad. Really love the blue colors and the detail work on the ceiling.
Last but not least, the roof area, where Gaudi liked to really ramp up his artistic skills.
Part of the permanent exhibition of the house are lithographs of documents that Gaudi drew up as The Architect. I love his signature. Artistic people always have the best signatures.
This was our last Gaudi themed visit. There is a lot more Gaudi to see, but time is running short on this trip. Next up, Montserrat. It may be a couple of days late, as we fly home tomorrow at zero-dark-thirty, and the internet in this Airbnb has not been cooperating.