Grey February rolls on.
The sun exuberantly bursts through
— in spurts —
For winter inching toward spring,

Paint It Gold!

And embed it in grey.

Erte did.
In his signature long, lean, stylized fashion.

photo courtesy of wikiart.org — photo courtesy of wikiart.org

What would his inimitable style
look like in an interior?

Something like this grey and gold
luxuriousness from Ralph Lauren?

• • • Effervescence • • •

Same theme, with stronger contrast.
The boldness of black floating free
on expanses of white
renders the potentially-somber color scheme
effervescent like champagne.

Here,
the effervescence is translated
into space through the ingenious placement
of gold tile on white ground:

photo courtesy of gilesmiller.com — photo courtesy of gilesmiller.com

Small, varied gold mosaic
set among large-format white tile
makes this bathroom sparkle
with the same effervescence:

• • • Regalia • • •

When the conversation turns to gold,
most of us think of the full-bodied gold
adorning the Vatican’s pomp and circumstances
and royal regalia.

Something along these lines:

photo courtesy of chasingthegreenfaerie.tumblr.com

That royal ethos lives
in this magnificently embellished door.

• • • Deco • • •

Watercolor captures this ethereal woman.
As she floats on open white space,
her face is grounded with black,
and crowned with glowing headgear:

The black-white-gold color palette
in the hands of Ralph Lauren,
with an Art Deco flavor:

Here the black and gold magnificence
is taken further in an Art Deco doorway.
The geometry alone
is one of the many reasons why
I love this period so much:

photo courtesy of beautiful-portals.tumblr.com

• • • Ethereal • • •

Halos are gold.

So is this ethereal woman
buoyed on wings and lace.

Her lightness is translated into space
in this kitchen’s hammered metal cabinets.
Not much is heavier than stone and metal —
— and yet the kitchen feels so light
that it could ascend at any moment,
just like the woman buoyed
on lace and wings.
Pretty amazing trick —
— the alchemy of turning gold into air.