Tag Archives: gaudi

Columns and Ceiling, Sagrada Familia

Columns and Ceiling, Sagrada Familia
“Columns and Ceiling, Sagrada Familia” — Wide-angle view of interior columns and ceiling, Sagrada Familia, Barcelona.

Many have seen photographs of the exterior of Barcelona’s Sagrada Família, the basilica based on Gaudi’s architectural designs. After visiting, I realized that we may be less familiar with the building’s remarkable interior — perhaps this is because it is easy to photograph the outside but much less simple to photograph inside. The scale of the interior is gigantic, with huge columns leading to a vault high above. It is very complex and busy, with details everywhere — but in some ways not like those in older cathedrals.

Many of the forms are based on organic models. (It is said that there are almost no straight lines here at all.) You can see some of them in this photograph — the columns that evoke tree trunks, the floral shapes, foliage, and more. (This wide angle view produces an additional and perhaps unintended association — the spine and rib cage.) In many places the building is full of vibrant colors from light coning through stained glass. But in this particular area, the colors are more subdued, though they span a range form the warm colors in the distance to the cool, slightly blue tones of the upper columns.


G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist. His book, “California’s Fall Color: A Photographer’s Guide to Autumn in the Sierra” is available from Heyday Books, Amazon, and directly from G Dan Mitchell.

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Blue Column, Sagrada Familia

Blue Column, Sagrada Familia
“Blue Column, Sagrada Familia” — A blue column lit by early evening light passing through colored glass windows, Sagrada Familia, Barcelona.

We visited the Gaudi-designed Sagrada Família in Barcelona last summer. The place was so visually striking that I honestly haven’t quite known what to do with the photographs, but I started digging into them recently. We are familiar with photographs of the remarkable exterior of the structure, but the interior is anrguably even more amazing. The amount of detail is nearly incomprehensible, and it is profoundly affected by the light coming through myriad stained glass windows and moving across its features.

We visited late in the afternoon, shortly before sunset — and I recommend this timing to others who may go. The sun was low in the sky when we entered, and colorful beams of light from the stained glass windows angled across the interior surfaces. Because it was late, the light was not static, instead changing constantly. Shafts of colored light moved slowly across the cathedral, striking various elements such as this column, illuminated by light coming through glue and yellow glass.


G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist. His book, “California’s Fall Color: A Photographer’s Guide to Autumn in the Sierra” is available from Heyday Books, Amazon, and directly from G Dan Mitchell.

Blog | About | Instagram | Flickr | Facebook | Threads | PostEmail

Links: Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Info.

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All media © Copyright G Dan Mitchell and others as indicated. Any use requires advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.