Josep Lluís Sert

Like many architects, I'm a painter at heart.Josep Lluís Sert

Born into an aristocratic family in Barcelona (his father was the Count of Sert), Josep Lluís Sert i López (1902-83) was the nephew of the painter Josep Maria Sert (who painted the Saló de las Cròniques in the Ajuntament) but was more inspired by Gaudí to study architecture, although his career would be more influenced by Le Corbusier, who invited him to Paris in 1929. For the next decade he would live between the two cities, where he came in contact with Picasso, and artists who became dear friends: Joan Miró, Georges Braque, Marc Chagall and Alexander Calder

Despite his fancy background, Sert was filled with enthusiasm for the Republic and its ideals. In 1930, he returned to Barcelona and co-founder of GATCPAC (Grup d'Artistes i Tècnics Catalans per al Progrés de l'Arquitectura Contemporània, i. Group of Catalan Artists and Technicians for the Progress of Contemporary Architecture), three of whom banded together to build the Dispensari Antituberculós and Casa Bloc as model housing for workers, although the latter complex was never completed before the Civil War made it impossible.