Gold. There is something magic about this material. This morning a radio show reported on the content of the Swedish gold reserve with some excitement, but of course I started thinking of  gold in art. There is an idea of sustainability of value in both context. Nations keeps gold as a safe capital stock, while in art it is a material that never change or gets old. It just glitters on, and this has also been used symbolically in religious art. I will focus on two examples.

During late Middle Ages, as in the Pietà-sculpture  from Klockrike church (Östergötland), it was used in the clothing of holy characters in order to make them shine. Gold makes the illusion of light coming from the image, instead of the usual effect of light falling on the image. Virgin Mary and the saints could also be covered in gold as the material symbolizes goodness, chastity and virginity.

A golden background is also common in religious art. There is a heavenly and timeless quality to the space the gold creates, as can be seen in Arne Olsson's untitled painting  (a donation to Umeå university). It opens up the surface to a pure place with no borders, just light. In medieval art gold was often contrasted to ultra marine or other shades of blue, since it deepened the effect of both colors. Olsson puts black abstract figures on the shining background, and by painting the vertical figures more shiny than the horizontal he gives the painting a three-dimensional sensation. Minimalistic and very striking.