"What is beauty? Why are we attracted to it? What emotion does it connect us with?" Beauty, so difficult to define, sometimes suggestive and elusive, far from being frivolous or accessory, plays a fundamental role in our lives and in our civilization. It gives us the opportunity "to be suspended in something greater than ourselves" and has a strong impact on our brain: "it provides us with well-being." This is how Anna Gener contemplates and describes it in her first book Sobre la belleza: apuntes de arte, arquitectura y ciudades (On Beauty: Notes on Art, Architecture, and Cities), an invitation —she acknowledges— for people to "expose themselves to beauty and its surprising power."
A Barcelona native, an economist by training, and executive director of Savills, Anna Gener is a prominent figure in Barcelona life, committed to the economic and cultural life of Barcelona: she is a member of various boards of trustees —such as that of the Fundació Museu Picasso de Barcelona— and is part of advisory councils and governing boards of different entities.
Her first job was as a financial auditor, but the beauty of the Torre Glòries (Torre Agbar at that time) prevailed on her path. It was October 2003, and she had been auditing the company promoting the skyscraper for two years. She knew the building very well through its financial statements. But the day she went up to the top floor, everything changed: she had a revelation. She no longer wanted to be an auditor; she wanted to relate to spaces from another perspective. Two weeks later, she had her first interview at Savills, and 22 years later, in the same Torre Glòries, it is she who reveals her most beautiful expression to society: her latest book.
— What happened on the top floor of the Torre Glòries in 2003?
— I felt a very strong emotion, and I still get goosebumps when I remember it. I saw the city from a place I had never seen it from before. I was able to look out that window and enjoy Barcelona. And I also understood that that building was a promise of transformation. That building would change an environment that was then very complicated, with Cerdà's knot still active, which was an urban scar and visually separated Poblenou from the rest of the city. The Torre Glòries meant a different way of understanding the city, which was accompanied by a very ambitious plan: the 22@.
"Beauty has that magic that makes it indecipherable. But at the same time, we are all capable of recognizing it"
— Now you close the circle and choose the Torre Glòries to present your book.
— Yes, and it's very exciting. Because the Torre Glòries means many things in my personal life, but also in the history of Barcelona. The Torre Glòries is proof that Barcelona, with all its flaws, is a city that knows how to reinvent itself like no other.
— After having reflected so much on beauty, how would you describe it?
— I confess I don't know how to describe it, despite having read and researched so much about it. Beauty has that magic that makes it indecipherable. But at the same time, we are all capable of recognizing it. There is a certain consensus about certain works or things that are beautiful, as if we had a shared language. And that makes it very attractive. Beauty has something suggestive, it's like fleeting, as if it could slip through your fingers.
— It's almost not tangible.
— It almost isn't. But exposing yourself to it has a direct impact on oneself. An instant of beauty brings you happiness, it's a small dose of well-being.
— Do you think one can train their gaze to recognize it?
— Yes, absolutely. When you expose yourself a lot to art, to beautiful buildings, to everyday details —a doorknob, a light, a ceramic—, you become more conscious. And the more conscious you are, the more you see it.
"The dynamics of the 21st century force us to go fast, and that goes against being able to fully enjoy beauty"
— In the book, you include a quote from orchestra conductor Teodor Currentzis, who talks about "opening one's eyes to beauty." As if it had to be a conscious, intentional act. And perhaps, with the accelerated life we lead, it's hard to stop and contemplate.
— Indeed. The dynamics of the 21st century force us to go fast, and that goes against being able to fully enjoy beauty. To do so, one must have a combative attitude: you must try to set aside moments to see beauty.
In fact, Teodor Currentzis applies that expression, "opening one's eyes to beauty," as a way of "healing pain," and it's true. Beauty can not only bring us happiness and well-being, but it also comforts in the face of sadness and pain. There are museums that already collaborate with hospitals or therapists to accompany sick people or those in difficult moments, and I find that beautiful.
There are initiatives for people with terminal illnesses to live their last days with the pleasure and comfort that beauty and art can offer them.
And I believe that museums can have a new meaning in the future, if they are more aware of what they can offer us in this regard.
— Do you think 21st-century architecture also keeps this in mind?
— 21st-century architecture is very focused on environmental sustainability, which is also a form of beauty. And that's good, but it's true that beauty in the more classical sense has been somewhat relegated.
— And utility wins over beauty.
— That's right, and deep down it shouldn't be that way. They shouldn't be mutually exclusive. In fact, the Bauhaus school, which for me is a great inspiration, made a great contribution with its focus on utility. They wanted to create useful spaces for people, but they never gave up on beauty. Beauty was also a fundamental pillar for the Bauhaus school, precisely because they understood its capacity to generate well-being. In fact, they spoke of the right to beauty.
"We should be able, just as the Bauhaus architects were, to introduce modernity, sustainability, and industrialization processes into construction and, at the same time, build beautiful homes"
— But now "zebra" buildings are in!
— Yes, and it's a big mistake. We should be able, just as the Bauhaus architects were, to introduce modernity, sustainability, and industrialization processes into construction and, at the same time, build beautiful homes, not only for the people who live in them, but also for the environment, for those who walk down the street. However, not everything that is built is ugly: there are architects with great sensitivity towards beauty and who have great respect for it, precisely because they are aware of the impact their work has on the environment.
— Is beauty subjective?
— No. I refuse. That phrase "there's no accounting for taste" comes from people who haven't read the treatises that exist on aesthetics and beauty in the philosophical realm, in the history of art and architecture.
— There are also artistic expressions that deliberately seek to reject beauty. In fashion, for example, it's very clear.
— Yes. There are authors who have decided to create deliberately ugly works, which are usually a way of expressing pain —as seen in many artists of the Second World War— or protest and nonconformity. And that's fine, because beauty cannot be understood without ugliness. In the end, artists are capable, with their works, of providing answers to the big questions we humans ask ourselves, and they must also speak of the dark side of our soul and of humanity.
"Beauty in Barcelona resides in the Eixample as a whole, not only in the great buildings we all know, but also in the many anonymous and extraordinarily beautiful properties"
— Which, besides being dark, is also beautiful.
— Yes, and above all because it is real. And, therefore, we must also embrace all that art that does not seek beauty. Now, having said that: not seeking beauty, from the receiver's point of view, is not a very intelligent attitude. That is, denying ourselves the search for beauty is an enormous loss, because we are limiting ourselves to an enjoyment that is very important for our lives and our happiness. This book, for me, is an invitation to expose ourselves to beauty, which is also abundant and free.
— Never before have we had such easy access to beauty and art as now.
— The experience in a museum will always be of much higher quality than looking at a work online, but equally, that work online can bring you a wonderful moment in your day. And it's as easy and quick as taking two seconds to type Picasso or Botticelli into our search engine.
— How can we train ourselves to connect with beauty in our daily lives?
— To begin with, you have to want to enjoy life and pull on the thread of that desire. And understand that every time you expose yourself to beauty, you are giving a gift to your brain. And that is not an intuition: neuroscience has already shown that the brain feels better in certain spaces, and that it is in nature where we feel best. So we can create beauty routines: go to museums, look for quiet spaces, return to places that make us feel good.
For some it will be the sea, for others a street, a bookstore, the place where we fell in love or our mother's kitchen. I think we should make an effort to recognize those spaces that make us feel good, and go to them.
"To reclaim the streets and reclaim Barcelona after the pandemic, for me, was a celebration of life, and a recovery of its beauty"
— And for you, what would that place be?
— La Rambla. It brings back many memories from my adolescence, when I studied at the Liceu. It was a magical place, full of life, and I felt very privileged to be there. Now it's under construction, but I hope it recovers much of the beauty it once had.
— Speaking of Barcelona's beauty: where does the beauty of this city reside for you?
— It's in the whole of the Eixample: in Cerdà's urban plan, which is urbanistically of extraordinary quality, and in modernist architecture. Not only in the great buildings we all know —La Pedrera or Casa Batlló—, but also in the many anonymous and extraordinarily beautiful properties that, as a whole, make a unique architectural contribution to the world.
— That beauty of the city, as you explain in the book, has often served as a refuge for you. Like that day you were walking along Paseo de Gracia, distressed, and suddenly you looked at the floor tiles… and they transported you to the sea.
— I remember it perfectly, with great emotion. We had just come out of the pandemic and were stepping onto the street again. I had missed it so much... Barcelona is a city that can be smelled, touched, heard —with its hustle and its unique rhythm—, and being able to recover all that was very exciting. To reclaim the streets and reclaim Barcelona after the pandemic, for me, was a celebration of life, and a recovery of its beauty.