The book that "doesn't intend to stay on the comic book shelves"

BarcelonaThe Comanegra publishing house publishes Gaudí, the Sagrada Familia and ecstasy, a hybrid format between comic and illustrated book signed by the Madrid-based screenwriter Salva Rubio and the Argentinian illustrator Agustín Comotto that arrives simultaneously in Catalan, Spanish and English: a historic milestone for the Barcelona-based publisher, which had never before published simultaneously in three languages.

The project stems from Comanegra's fruitful relationship with Comotto—they had previously collaborated on a comic about Joan Salvat-Papasseit—and from a recommendation by illustrator Oriol Malet, who suggested Salva Rubio as the "ideal person" for the book. Rubio already had a fully developed comic book project about Gaudí in advanced stages, even with a script, but he agreed to adapt it into this hybrid format to reach a wider audience. "It's not meant to be a book that sits on the comic book shelves; it's a book for everyone," explains editor Jordi Puig. "We wanted to broaden audiences, to create an introduction to Gaudí's life and work that would be relevant for both visitors and Catalans," Puig adds.

A dead Gaudí who doesn't want to leave

The narrative approach breaks with biographical convention. A conventional biographical book about Gaudí would begin by narrating the architect's childhood and end with his death, but Gaudí, the Sagrada Familia and ecstasy It starts at the end. The screenwriter explains that it's an homage to the film. The sky over Berlin by Wim Wenders. Gaudí refuses to leave the world until the Sagrada Família is finished. "Our Gaudí doesn't want to die, he grows wings and says: 'I'm not leaving here until the Sagrada Família is finished,'" Rubio explains. The narrative covers the architect's entire life, from his childhood working in the cotton factory, and goes beyond Gaudí's life to even to the recent addition of the tower of Jesus Christ in the basilica, and makes Barcelona a third character in the story.

Agustín Comotto's biggest challenge was portraying a figure for whom hardly any photographs exist. "Designing the character was like creating a human architecture," Comotto emphasizes. The solution came, in part, from painting: the illustrator's central influence was Rusiñol, especially his later work, as a tribute to the Commonwealth and the Renaissance. "Gaudí didn't invent his colors, and I wanted to reflect that," the Argentinian underlines. Rubio dedicated three to four months to researching Gaudí and tracing testimonies from his disciples, since 90% of the dialogues in the book are either actual statements or those attributed to Gaudí. "When you work on a character, you lift the veil on who they are. With Gaudí, that's not the case. He remains a mystery to be uncovered, but with this book, we're getting closer," Rubio admits.