Brooklyn Museum is celebrating its 200th anniversary with an exciting new Solid Gold exhibition, showcasing solid gold pieces of jewelry, haute couture and more, across a spectrum of media.
This shimmering exhibition is dedicated to the element that has inspired countless works of art, fashion, film, music, and design. The metal, as well as the color of gold, has been a symbol of beauty, honor, joy, ritual, spirituality, success, and wealth throughout history. It has also taken on myriad forms: from millennia-old depictions of an idealized world to opulent 13th- and 14th-century Italian altarpieces, 22k gold chalices, and intricate Japanese screens, to gold colored Adidas sneakers with wings designed by Jeremy Scott, and gold and pearl minidresses designed by Azzedine Alaia, sported by the legendary Tina Turner.
Greek. Wreath (details), 3rd–2nd century B.C.E. Gold. Brooklyn Museum; Gift of George D. Pratt, 26.763. (Photo: Brooklyn Museum)
Solid Gold features more than 400 works, organized in eight sections. There are standout gold-inspired fashion designs by Anna Sui, Christian Dior, Gianfranco Ferré, Giorgio di Sant’Angelo, Halston, Mary McFadden, The Blonds, Walter Van Beirendonck, and Yves Saint Laurent. There are also gold-ground paintings and sculptures, coins, gold wrapper tapestries, gold records, and other treasures alongside jewelry by Alexander Calder, Belperron, Bulgari, Cartier, Charles Loloma, Jacob & Co, and Verdura.
Photo courtesy Brooklyn Museum
While celebrating the seductive magic of this captivating material, the exhibition will also confront darker histories, inviting frank discussions about the human and environmental costs of extracting gold ore from the earth.
Fashion designers to the stars The Blonds will have a conversation with Solid Gold's curator Matthew Yokobosky Dec. 5. Photo by Mike Ruiz.
There will be additional themed talks throughout the duration of the exhibit, including a conversation with fashion designer The Blonds and Solid Gold's curator Matthew Yokobosky on Dec. 5, at 7pm. March 20, 2025, there will be another talk with with designer Anna Sui.
Solid Gold runs through July 6, 2025. For more information, visit brooklynmuseum.org.
