Antoni Gaudí
Adoration of the Magi

Detail: The Musicians above the Magi

As throughout the sculptures of the Nativity Portal,
Gaudí effortlessly marries medieval and modern spirituality. As in so many medieval works, the playing of music expresses the harmonies that lie at the heart of the meaning of the Adoration of the Magi: God and man, Gentile and Jew, earthly power and divine. Also medieval is the costuming; but the instruments are modern, as is the unproblematic juxtaposing of male and female musicians, who exhibit the contemporary artist's loving attentiveness to the act of playing itself.

More of the Adoration of the Magi

Photographed on site by Richard Stracke.