"I am the light"
Barcelona, Spain, 2008-2012.
I’ll never forget the first time I saw the effects of the light shining through the stained glass windows in the Sagrada Familia in Barcelona. When you see the spectacle you soon realise you’re in an out-of-the-ordinary space, quite mystical and unique. The colours projecting in the nave help elevate the spirituality of both the architecture by Gaudi and the window design by Joan Vila-Grau.
These abstract projections add a metaphysical dimension to the space, if you pay close attention to the visitors who get touched by the light you’ll find them contemplating these abstractions trying to figure out what they’re looking at not fully aware of the fact that their spirit has being touched by something greater than them. This is the beauty in the play of light and abstraction, a spiritual language used by artists like Kandinsky, Miro, Rothko, Mondrian, and in this case, Vila-Grau who uses the stiffness and translucency of glass to express emotions to animate inner matter.
In 1999 artist Joan Vila-Grau was commissioned to produce the windows for this architectural masterpiece. Vila-Grau by then was already an established artist and theoretical expert in stained glass techniques; for the same reason, he chose the ancient technique of stained glass and led for the whole glasswork of the basilica.
The glasswork in the basilica includes 16 different styles of glass cutting techniques for the different sections of all the windows giving the effect of light sliding through the glass instead of abruptly penetrating it, this was Gaudi’s wish for the light in the basilica “Light should slide and flow through the glass just like water slides over pebbles” but the most spectacular glass works are the stained glass windows along both sides of the nave which designs follow Vila-Grau’s own style of abstract painting. The designs for these windows were sketched on watercolours following the same principle of water and light flowing.
The most impressive display of light happens during the winter solstice when the sun sets directly across the west-facing wing creating a dynamic and progressive projection of the stained glass patterns filling the nave with the warm, rich tones of Vila-Grau’s work and Gaudi’s vision for the space.