Gaudi was born at the peak of Spanish disruption, the 19th century. Many wars broke out just before and after his 74 year lifetime, as well as the three Carlist wars that took place whilst he was alive.
He arrived in Barcelona at seventeen and stayed there for the majority of his life thereafter, it was 1889 and the Catalan Modernist style was just beginning to become widespread during his first few years in the city. Catalan Modernism had very distinctive characteristics of multi-coloured mosaics, tiles decorated with motifs and relief patterns (usually designed by the architect), stunning stained glass, elegant lamps and candle holders made of delicate metal and glass, and large masculine stone sculptures that were painted white which then became part of the architects structure. Sounds very much like Gaudi's work and many books and accounts on Gaudi that I have read categorize him as a Catalan Modernist, but on further research I saw elements of many other styles of architecture.
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