The European artist has spent years mastering gold, fire and beeswax. His five-work collection will go to a single collector or institution, and will never be divided.

Some paintings hang on a wall. Michael Gavrieli’s paintings seem to give off a light of their own. The European artist works in encaustic, one of the oldest painting techniques in the world, using hot pigmented beeswax, fire and 24-karat gold powder. The results move as the light changes, warm at dawn and molten by candlelight.

His latest body of work, The 24K Metal of the Kings Collection, is now being presented privately for the first time. It has five original paintings: The Golden Phoenix, The Golden Comet, The Golden Gladiator, The Golden Tulip and The Golden Kingdom. Each one is one of a kind. They will stay together as a single collection, entrusted to one collector or institution as a complete legacy.

An Ancient Art, Reborn

Encaustic painting flourished in the ancient world, from Egypt to the Roman and Byzantine empires, and some of its portraits are still vivid two thousand years later. Today few artists attempt it. The wax sets within seconds, every movement is final, and when the surface is gold, a single error can be costly.

Gavrieli spent five years experimenting before he painted the collection, refining heat sources, waxes and precious materials until they worked as one. “Fire decides how the wax moves and how the gold opens,” he says. “I don’t fight it. I guide it. Each painting holds a moment that can never be repeated.”

The Tears, The Flesh, The Flame

The collection’s inspiration comes from ancient Egypt. In Egyptian myth, bees were born from the tears of the sun god Ra, and gold was believed to be the flesh of the gods. Fire was the force that transforms one into the other.

“When I discovered these stories, I realized I had been working with the same three elements for years without knowing their meaning,” Gavrieli says. “The tears of Ra, the flesh of the gods and the flame that unites them. Every painting in this collection is made of all three.”

A Dream Made Real

Gavrieli came to art later than most, in his thirties. One night he dreamed of luminous golden paintings and couldn’t let the image go. He searched for a technique that could bring it to life, and his wife introduced him to encaustic.

“I fell in love with it at once, and I knew I had found my life’s work,” he recalls. “Not everyone understood. Some people laughed. I kept going because I had already seen these paintings in my mind.”

His work has been exhibited in Monaco, Luxembourg, Austria, Spain and Slovakia, and he has collaborated with names including Boutsen Design, Amber Lounge, MSJ Collection, Kempinski Hotels and Zion Spa Luxury.

Created as One

The two large works, The Golden Phoenix and The Golden Comet, were completed in 2018. The three smaller works, The Golden Gladiator, The Golden Tulip and The Golden Kingdom, followed in 2019. Each is framed in a custom 24-karat gold-plated frame.

“These five paintings tell one story,” Gavrieli says. “Separating them would be like tearing pages from a book. They belong with one person who understands that they are keeping something for the future.”

The beeswax at the heart of the work also carries a commitment beyond the canvas. Gavrieli supports the health of bees and other pollinators, the creatures that made his art possible.

“When observing how Gavrieli composes his colors, it is critically important to view the sustained contemplation and peaceful meditation, releasing your mind from strictly rational pondering. It is as if he is creating mandalas, those ritualistic geometric designs symbolic of the universe.” — Martin Šugár, PhD, art expert

Private viewings of The 24K Metal of the Kings Collection are available by appointment. Visit: www.MichaelGavrieli.com

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