Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain

Polychromatic Trencadís Chimney Finials of the Rooftop Terrace at Casa Batlló

2057

Catalan Modernisme (Art Nouveau), 1904–1906

Individual chimney finials from the rooftop terrace of Casa Batlló, designed by Antoni Gaudí and completed 1904–1906. Multiple flues merge into tapering organic columns, each terminating in a pyramidal head crowned with a distinctive spherical glass mosaic finial. The trencadís surface of each column is clad in soft pink, cream, and pale blue ceramic fragments. A continuous horizontal band bearing alternating yellow and green ceramic floral petal forms runs around each shaft, creating a decorative register between the cylindrical lower mass and the tapering upper crown. The spherical finials, mosaic-clad and slightly iridescent, read against the sky as a cluster of glowing fruit or oversized dewdrops suspended at the rooftop horizon.