Whenever gold is mentioned, what often comes to mind is a precious material in the form of ingots, which people have amassed in strong rooms where it is shielded from the covetous gaze of others. From Greek treasuries to Ali Baba’s cave, history and works of the imagination abound in depictions of riches hoarded in secret places.

Gold has always been a source of fascination, and the search for it has sometimes sparked bouts of gold fever. King Midas lost his wisdom when he was given the gift of being able to transform everything he touched into gold. For an ounce of gold, men who dreamt of adventure, free-dom and a quick fortune embarked on a frantic search for it. While reality was sometimes darker than the fiction, the historic gold rush episodes are proof of man’s ability to move mountains in order to get hold of it.

There is more to gold than accumulating it and searching for it. Possessing unrivalled malleability, it is a material that permits all kinds of virtuosic uses. As a result, it has served as a vehicle for various forms of expertise since antiquity. This section of the exhibition illustrates gold’s capacity to be transformed by artists.

In contemporary art it has been given all manner of forms and textures: the display embraces both the monumental sculp-tures of César and Johan Creten and the minimalist, fragile pieces of James Lee Bryars, Stéphanie Saadé and Hubert Duprat. From there to wanting to turn lead into gold it is only a small jump – one that was made by alchemists, who were drawn to the magical dimension of gold.

Because it was reputed to be indestructible, gold was seen as an embodiment of the divine and eternity. Like reliquaries contai-ning the remains of martyred saints, it made it possible to dis-tinguish the ordinary from the extraordinary. Gold is the ultimate material of metamorphosis, adding lustre to the private, public and sacred realms.

Gold has also been synonymous with power. It is an attribute of elites, and its rarity, refinement and brilliance are an expression of wealth and pomp. It has adorned ceremonial dress of various forms (military, religious and political), and the luxury industry has exploited its innumerable facets. And yet not everything that glitters is gold. Marketing and advertising make abundant use of gold as a colour, proof that the material continues to be a source of unfailing fascination.

Apart from financial support for this exhibition, the House of Dior is also providing loans from its archives of haute couture dresses, its most emblematic perfume bottles and the finest jewelry such as limited edition Baccarat. It is fully committed to one of the most brilliant cultural institutions of France and in doing so, also associates itself with an exhibition whose theme echoes its own aesthetic identity, shining a bright light on one of its most important core values.

Throughout the exhibition’ itenary, a specially produced cre-ation by gethan&myles is presented. The artist pair bought jewelry from the Crédit Municipal de Marseille (Mont de Piété), whose story they unfold.
Their task was to trace the people who brought these jewels to the Mont de Piété, to record their stories on the history and importance of these objects in their family life, and to make restitution. The jewels are displayed at Mucem in an ephemeral instal-lation that transcends the entire exhibition before being restored to their rightful owners. gethan&myles made the decision to devote their production budget for this buy-back and restitution.