Gold has been used as a pigment and decorative material since the earliest civilisations. Ancient Egyptian tomb paintings used gold leaf. Byzantine artists developed the technique of gold ground — applying gold leaf to entire backgrounds to suggest divine light. Klimt's late "Golden Phase" works are among the most famous gold-based artworks of the modern era.

Divine, precious, and luminous. Gold is the colour of the sun, of royalty, of the sacred. It suggests both material wealth and spiritual illumination. Unlike yellow, gold carries gravitas — it is earned rather than simply present. Psychologically it activates associations with achievement, value, and the transcendent.

The most universally valued colour-material in human history. Gold underpins global monetary systems. In Christianity, gold represents divine light and eternity (hence its use in icons and illuminated manuscripts). In many Asian cultures, gold symbolises good fortune and prosperity. The "Golden Age" metaphor appears in virtually every culture as a reference to a time of perfection.