CARMEN AND THE HOUSE THAT GAUDÍ BUILT

A fictionalized origin story of a real architectural marvel.

“Carmen Batlló, our very important visitor is here!” calls Carmen’s family, trying to lure her out of the woods around their country home. She’s reluctant. Nature comforts her, and when she’s alone, she can talk to her “invisible salamander,” Dragon, a huge, pale green, imaginary creature. The visitor is Antoni Gaudí, who, over time, designs a stunningly unusual city house for Carmen’s family. Gaudí, the Batlló family, and Casa Batlló—built between 1904 and 1906 in Barcelona—are all real; Hughes’ fancy is that Gaudí bases his wildly creative design on a personal, shared understanding with little Carmen about nature and Dragon. When the curving, glittering Casa Batlló reaches completion, Ferrer’s art does it tolerable justice. The front is shown with sinuous lines and covered in multicolored tiles (though the hues are off, and dark trees that flank it dominate), a blue room is depicted with layers of light as if undersea, and the undulating roof is pictured as a sculpture of, specifically, Dragon. Earlier, the illustrations are odd, portraying Carmen’s (and Gaudí’s) beloved nature scenes—supposedly wondrous because they’re devoid of “sharp corners”—as full of dark, ominous plants sharp enough to cut and sinister tertiary colors with mustard tones. The final house looks passably striking, though far less sparkly and unconventional than it should—as demonstrated with a closing photograph.

Not a visual inspiration; at most, a jumping-off point about Casa Battló.