Antoni Gaudí’s first projects were the lampposts…

Antoni Gaudí’s first projects were the lampposts he had designed for the Plaça Reial in Barcelona, the unfinished Girossi newsstands, and the Cooperativa Obrera Mataronense (Workers' Cooperative of Mataró) building.

He had gained wider recognition for his first important commission, the Casa Vicens, and had subsequently received more significant proposals.

At the Paris World's Fair of 1878, Gaudí had displayed a showcase he had produced for the glove manufacturer Comella.

Its functional and aesthetic modernista design had impressed Catalan industrialist Eusebi Güell, who had then commissioned some of Gaudí’s most outstanding work: the Güell wine cellars, the Güell pavilions, the Palau Güell (Güell palace), the Park Güell (Güell park) and the crypt of the church of the Colònia Güell.

Gaudí has also become a friend of the marquis of Comillas, the father-in-law of Count Güell, for whom he designed "El Capricho" in Comillas.

In 1883, Gaudí had been put in charge of the recently initiated project to build a Barcelona cathedral called Basílica i Temple Expiatori de la Sagrada Família (Basilica and Expiatory Church of the Holy Family, or Sagrada Família).

Gaudí has completely changed the initial design and imbued it with his own distinctive style.

From 1915 until his death he will devote himself entirely to this project.

Given the number of commissions he begins receiving, he has to rely on his team to work on multiple projects simultaneously.

His team consists of professionals from all fields of construction.

Several of the architects who work under him will later become prominent in the field, such as Josep Maria Jujol, Joan Rubió, Cèsar Martinell, Francesc Folguera and Josep Francesc Ràfols.

Gaudí moves to rural Sant Feliu de Codines in 1885 to escape the cholera epidemic that is ravaging Barcelona.

He lives in Francesc Ullar’s house, for whom he design sa dinner table as a sign of his gratitude.