Gold Leaf in Art: From the Sacred to the Contemporary

-IONA- Rocio Arteaga
Dec 15, 2025
1 min read

Updated: Dec 15, 2025

Gold leaf has been used in art for over two thousand years. Its earliest applications appear in ancient Egyptian funerary objects, where gold symbolized eternity and divine power. This association with the sacred continued in Byzantine icons and medieval altarpieces, where gold backgrounds dissolved physical space to evoke a timeless, spiritual realm.

During the Renaissance, artists such as Giotto and Duccio used gold leaf to structure religious narratives, though its use gradually declined as naturalism and perspective became dominant. By the Baroque period, gold was largely reserved for frames and decorative arts rather than the painted surface itself.

In the 20th century, gold leaf re-emerged with a radically new meaning. Artists like Gustav Klimt reclaimed gold as both material and concept, merging ornament, sensuality, and symbolism. Later, contemporary artists such as Yves Klein, Anselm Kiefer, and James Lee Byars used gold not as a symbol of power, but as a reflective, fragile material—one that responds to light, time, and the viewer’s presence.

In my own work, gold leaf is less about permanence and more about cycles. It functions as a living surface rather than a fixed symbol: fragile, reflective, and constantly changing. Gold becomes a way to speak about renewal, transformation, and the ongoing dialogue between matter, light, and time.

Below, I present three examples of artworks from different periods and artistic languages, each using gold through distinct techniques and intentions.