Glazing the Sagrada Família: Exclusive Interview With Joan Vila Grau
By Margaret Martlew (University of Sheffield)
Fig. 1. The Sagrada Família.
The Expiatory Temple of the Sagrada Família in the Spanish city of Barcelona is one of the most iconic buildings in the world. Designed by the brilliant Catalan architect Antoni Gaudí (1852–1926) only a small proportion of the church had been completed at the time of his death. However, sufficient material, retrieved from maquettes and various written sources, has enabled work to continue following his guidelines and later this year the building will be formally consecrated by Pope Benedict XVI. [Fig. 1]
Gaudí envisaged three types of windows in the church, ranging from Gothic Revival to his own unique interpretations. In 1999 the Catalan stained glass artist, Joan Vila Grau, was commissioned to design all the windows for the temple. Before embarking on his designs, he studied intensively everything that Gaudí and the architects who collaborated with him had written about the church and their art.
Fig. 2. Joan Vila Grau.
Joan Vila Grau (1932–) [Fig. 2] has designed stained glass windows for more than fifty buildings; ecclesiastical, public and private. He has also restored medieval stained glass windows in major cathedrals and churches such as the Cathedrals of Gerona and Mallorca and the church of Santa Maria del Marin Barcelona. He is a co-author of four volumes on the medieval glass of Catalonia for the CVMA (Spain) (see Further Reading at the foot of this article). He has recently been awarded the Creu de St Jordi (The Cross of St George), one of Catalonia’s highest national honours.
To coincide with an exhibition about the stained glass in the Sagrada Família, due to open in a few weeks time, we are delighted to publish Margaret Martlew’s exclusive interview with Joan Vila Grau about his work for the church. It provides fascinating insights into the work of a major stained glass artist as he tackles one of the most important commissions in the new century.
The Interview
MM (Margaret Martlew): The Sagrada Família is considered by many to be Antoni Gaudí’s finest achievement. His architectural plans are guiding the completion of the building. Did he have explicit ideas for the stained glass windows?
JVG (Joan Vila Grau): Yes, Gaudí did have some ideas for the windows that I felt I had to respect while at the same time endeavouring to create my own work. For instance, when an artist is commissioned to paint a portrait, he has to create a work of art while also accepting certain conditions. But freedom is very important and you have to try to be free within these constraints. The conditions that are laid down can present you with a challenge and if the conditions are reasonable then you can be free to work within these. If the conditions are absurd or excessive it is best not to have anything to do with the project.
Fig. 3. ‘Water of Life’ window.
Sometimes it is easy to follow Gaudí’s ideas. For example, the theme for the blue window on the north façade, ‘I am the Water of Life’. This idea appealed to me and I developed it by imagining a stream that begins in a mountain and slowly life is created as it flows down into the river. At the top of the window there is only blue glass but coming down, gradually other colours appear – yellow, green, red. These are suggesting the plants and herbs that can be found as the stream flows into the river. The colours at the bottom of the window are also related to the colours on the other side of the transept, on the south façade.
Between these two large windows is the Resurrection window. In this window I developed the idea of death and life, with death as the earth and life as a seed. Therefore the colours in the lower windows are dense colours, dark, and slowly these become more translucent as they go up until they reach the ellipsoid at the top. Here the colour almost disappears and the windows are composed of different textures of white glass that vibrate the light and give an explosion of luminosity. For me, this represents the triumph of life over death. [Fig. 3]
MM:Was light important for Gaudí?
JVG: Yes, here I took account of another idea of Gaudí’s that was not contrary to the vision I had. This is that the windows at the top of the temple should be in white glass in order to give the maximum amount of light while the lower windows should be darker. Gaudí wanted light to illuminate the vaults. Normally the practice is to have dense colours in the highest windows and less dense colours in the lower ones because this gives an even illumination over the whole window. But Gaudí wanted exactly the opposite.
Fig. 4. Light painting the stone.
The light is constantly changing. Gaudí said that the sun is the best painter and that light from the windows flows over the stones like a stream. I am sure that Gaudí was referring to the colour that would be projected by the light onto the columns and the interior of the temple. When I was beginning to think about the harmonic light in the temple and the great symphony of colour and light I discovered another comment of Gaudí’s in which he envisaged the Sagrada Família as a temple of harmonic light. This was exactly the idea I had. As in my paintings, themes are only a small aspect of the work. In the Sagrada Família, what is important to me is creating a symphony of light and colour. A unity is formed by the symphony of colour of all the windows of the Sagrada Família. [Fig. 4]
MM: What processes are involved in making the glass?
JVG: The design of the window begins in my studio after I have examined the light, orientation and measurements of the windows. I work in water colours and draw the lines for the lead onto this. From these small projects I use the scaling that is normally used by architects and glassmakers.
Fig. 5. Antoni Vila Grau selecting colours in his studio.
Once the design of the window is finished and the colours have been selected, the glassmaker can begin to cut the glass. Creating stained glass windows is both an art and a craft. Choosing the colours is very important to me. We have allowed for instance, 70 or more blues, 70 or more greens, etc. and these are all numbered. As well as the coloured glass there are also glasses of different textures. I can envisage this move from the design to the window itself as being like a translation, as when you translate a book from English to another language. It really is a translation because the fluidity of the colours in the watercolour design is not possible in the glass. It would be possible with enamel but Gaudí did not like enamel. The designer collects the different colours and separates them with the lead. It is not the same as the original watercolour design but it is a valid version in its own right. You make a translation. In all these production processes I rely on the collaboration of Antoni Vila, my son. He has also, through careful study, created a system for framing and positioning the windows. [Fig. 5]
MM: What role does the lead play in the windows?
Fig. 6. Vault window showing lead design and textured glass.
JVG: The lead in the windows has two different functions. One is the material one of physically keeping one piece of glass in place with another, and it makes a network. The other is, in my opinion, the aesthetic function of the lead. The lead creates a rhythm. For me the colour is the static element and the lead the dynamic. The lead also makes it possible for me to bring in the different colours that I have in the design. For instance, if in the design I have a blue that becomes clearer then I need to put in place two or three or more different pieces of blue glass to bring out this change of tone. In this way the lead allows me to interpret the project and it is especially important in creating a dynamic feeling. It is easy to see this in the windows at the top of the Sagrada Família that only have white glass in them, as Gaudí wanted.
I have not used crowns (bottle glass) in the white glass because the crown would cut across the rhythm and in the white glass it is the rhythm that is especially important. [Fig.6]
MM: Gaudí’s architecture is rich in iconography. Does this extend to the windows?
Fig. 7. Nativity window, east transept.
JVG: There is a kind of iconography in the Nativity window but it is just an anecdote, aesthetically it is not important. I used crowns because they catch the light to represent what the constellations were on 25 December in the year 0, which were the Bear and Cassiopeia. The form of Cassiopeia is that of the anagram of my father’s name AA (Antoní Vila Arrufat). But these are small things.
When beginning the commission I reached an agreement that the windows would not be figurative. As part of the commission however I agreed to write the names of saints in the roundels. The saints’ names were to have run round and down the columns but as they are not on the columns it was suggested that the names should be on the windows. I do not feel it is all that important. [Fig. 7]
There are probably some who expect the windows to follow the tradition of figurative iconography. For me it was necessary to create an atmosphere, a grand symphony of colour and light. When you go into a Gothic church, a cathedral or a monastery, the first thing you feel is the atmosphere. After that you are aware that there are windows of different colours and thematic representations. But what is important, before everything else, is the atmosphere that is created by the colours – and if the windows have a theme – well why not? But it is not necessary. In the windows of the Sagrada Família there is no figurative iconography but an atmosphere has been created.
MM: Why is the atmosphere so important to you?
JVG: Well I think that in creating an atmosphere you can give the feeling that you are in a place that is different from any other place. I don’t like the word magic but it is something magical – mystical or magical – perhaps these are almost the same. The intuitions of the artist and the intuitions of the spectator can create a feeling of magic or mysticism.
A French reporter once asked me if I was a Christian or not. I said ‘Yes, I can say yes, I am a Christian, and on the other hand I can say I am not’. It depends on what you think it means to be Christian. It is not important if the Sagrada Família and the windows are Catholic or not. There is something there inside and I try to take it to another level. It is at that level that to me, in the Sagrada Família, a Buddhist, a non-Catholic or non-believer can feel that he is inside something spiritual.
The spirituality of Gaudí is more in the rhythm of the colours and the architecture than in the iconography. Gaudí’s iconography is an anachronism. The religious sensibility of Gaudí in the field of iconography is the sensibility of that epoch. But Gaudí is more than that epoch. For me a column of Gaudí’s is more spiritual than putting ‘Gloria en Excelsis Deo’ on it. I believe that any sensitive person can understand this spirituality. People can find in the Sagrada Família something that they can find in their own temples and churches. There are other buildings in the world where you can find this spirituality, for example, the Mosque at Cordoba. You can enter into another space, beyond the temple. This spirituality is there in the Colegio de Teresianas, which Gaudí built. There is a corridor where there are no Ave Marias, no Jesus Christs, nothing, only mosaics and yet there is something spiritual, magical there, whatever you wish to call it. This is Gaudí. This is the greatness of Gaudí for me. And so is the Sagrada Família.
MM: Not everyone agrees with the continuing construction of the Sagrada Família, What is your opinion on this?
JVG: The people who disagree with the continuation of the building of the Sagrada Família seem to me to be badly informed or to have very little sensibility. I believe that the spirit of Gaudí is in his architecture and that includes this building. Gaudí said ‘I know I cannot finish this temple and other people will continue my work enriching it with their feeling and with their personal approach.’ Until I read this sentence, I had wondered whether it would perhaps be better not to finish the Sagrada Família. This sentence is the passport to continuing. After all, what was the Sagrada Família at the end of Gaudí’s life? It was only a ruin but now it is something incredible. Religious and spiritual factors apart, the Sagrada Família is a very important cultural and artistic work. The columns and arches in the Sagrada Família that have been constructed following Gaudí’s projections, his maquettes and his mathematical calculations, these columns and arches are Gaudí’s even though he did not make them. The spirit of Gaudí is instilled into his architecture.
Following on from this I think that Gaudí not only accepted that the personality of the architects and artists who would continue his work would be different, he also accepted that other materials would be used if they were better than the old ones. The spirit of a cathedral changes with the centuries. The people working on the Sagrada Família look on it as something living and when something is living it must be subject to change.
MM: What major problems have you encountered in making the windows?
JVG: The problem that I am aware of in designing each window is the danger of monotony. Becoming monotonous is my major preoccupation. It is not just mine. It is, for instance, the preoccupation of a sculptor who has to work slowly on a big façade. There is a human tendency to fall into using the same solution. There is a danger of repeating without being aware that you are repeating. This is what you have to be aware of when trying to work on the scale of the whole composition for the windows, thinking about the harmony and the symphony of colour but at the same time ensuring that every window is different in the use of colour, the rhythm of the lead, the total resolution.
MM: How did you feel when your first window was installed?
JVG: It was a very emotional moment for me when the Resurrection window was installed. The size of the windows is so great. There is always something of a surprise when the windows are put into place. I have studied the situation and weighed up the problems but there are always some aspects that cannot be completely controlled. Some windows of course are better seen in a certain light. For example a window on the south façade will have the sun beginning in the east and moving round and in these I use a greater percentage of warm colours.
At this moment there are several windows in place. I have a complete conceptualisation of the windows worked out, some windows are already completed but not installed, and some are in part projects. It is expected that the church will be finished in twenty years but the windows could be finished in five.
Further Reading
- Vila Grau, J. and Rodon F., Las Vidrieras Modernistas Catalanas, Barcelona: Ediciones Polígafa, S.A., 1983
- Vila Grau, J., Church of the Sagrada Família: the Stained Glass Windows, Barcelona: Editorial Mediterrània, 2006
Corpus Vitrearum Medii Aevi volumes
- Ainaud I de de Lasarte, J. A., Vila Grau, J., Assumpta Escudero i Ribot, M., Catalonia I: Els Vitralls medievals de l’Esglesia de Santa Maria del Mar a Barcelona, Barcelona, 1985
- Ainaud I de de Lasarte, J. A., Vila Grau, J., Assumpta Escudero i Ribot, M., Vila Delclos, A., Marquès, J., Roura, G., and Marquès, J. M., Catalonia II: Els Vitralls de la catedral de Girona, Barcelona, 1987
- Ainaud I de de Lasarte, J. A., Vila Grau, J., Vila Delclos, A., Catalonia III: Els Vitralls del monastir de Santes Creus i de la catedral de Tarragona, Barcelona, 1992
- Ainaud I de de Lasarte, J. A., Vila Grau, J., Vila Delclos, A., Catalonia IV: Els Vitralls de la catedral de Barcelona i del monastir de Pedralbes, Barcelona, 1997
Published by the Isitut d’Estudis Catalans, C. del Carme 47, 08001, Barcelona.
Website
Source: http://vidimus.org/issues/issue-40/feature/
