Helene Lundbye Petersen on the Depth of Thought and the Shape of Understanding
Interview with Helene Lundbye Petersen /WhitePageProject
by Maria Belton
In a world saturated with images and information, Danish artist and philosopher Helene Lundbye Petersen has built an artistic universe devoted to connection, presence, and colour. Her life’s work, /WhitePageProject, began with a single gesture, the offering of a blank white page, and has since evolved into a living artwork that weaves together philosophy, performance, writing, and painting.
At its core lies a call to return to what she names the Genuine: the unfiltered resonance between self, other, and existence itself. Through her Colour Spectrum of Genuine Being, each hue becomes a space of emotion, perception, and reflection — something to enter, rather than simply to understand.
I sat down with Helene to talk about Blue, the second Colour Space in the Spectrum — the space of Wisdom.
What is Blue in your artwork?
Blue is the space of wisdom, both as a concept and as a lived experience. It emerged through The Blue Book – Ode to Wisdom, which tells the story of a Goddess of Wisdom who holds and witnesses every thought as it arises, and passes. Across generations, she has seen everything the human mind has produced. In this way, she becomes us and our accumulated mind across time and space.
And now, she is in doubt. Something is shifting fundamentally, and for the first time, she has no answers and must go to the root of her being to seek wisdom.
Today, we suffer from over-accumulation: too much information, too much knowledge, and too little space to digest it. Wisdom cannot emerge under such pressure. It needs openness. It needs stillness.
For both me and my artwork, Blue is the space where we can connect to the workings of our minds, truly observe the patterns of thought, logic, and reasoning, and cultivate the potential to find wisdom.
How did you experience Blue when you painted Blue No.1 & No.2?
The Blue Space embodies the tension between clarity and accumulation. Like a bright, clear blue sky layered with the mind’s dense accumulation of knowledge and perception, painting Blue allowed me to inhabit that tension—to sense wisdom as both intuitive clarity and layered understanding.
I collaborated with a historic art supply store in Copenhagen and we selected Prussian Blue, a luminous blue pigment that deepens almost to black through layering. As with all my paintings, I first wrote quotes from The Blue Book directly onto the canvas.
The first layer of paint was translucent and delicate; the canvas showed through, and each brushstroke was visible. Yet I wanted perfect clarity, a precise blue. So I added layers.
A fly landed in the wet paint, and removing it disrupted the surface. More layers followed. The blue bled into white. Dust settled. Cleaning smudged the surface. The more layers I added, the heavier and more unstable the paintings became. Eventually, I had to just stop, and let go of working on them, and let them dry naturally, with all their small imperfections.
Years later, when the works were removed from storage to be documented for the production of these prints, bubble wrap left Lichtenstein-like imprints across the surface. Even after many years, the paint had not fully dried. A conservator suggested stripping the paintings down completely and rebuilding them, as restoration would be near impossible. I was devastated.
But the process made me realise that stripping them would mean erasing the wisdom they held. Wisdom is not static; it evolves and carries its marks. I left the paintings untouched over the summer, and after weeks of rest and air to breathe, they actually almost healed themselves. Time and light softened the surface, and left only a few scars. It was a lesson: allowing space, letting the process unfold, letting wisdom reveal itself naturally.
To me, these two paintings became a perfect portrait of the Blue Space: they hold an over-accumulation of layers and remain open, still vulnerable to the impulse to control and perfect. At first they appear black, but under the right light the blue clarity reveals itself beneath the surface — just as wisdom does.
Can you describe what the two Blue paintings depict?
The first painting depicts a square, the second four lines. As with all paintings in this series, the minimalism and bare essentials provide the openness necessary to transform the canvas into a space, allowing multiple interpretations, and make it a true Blue Space.
I see the square as a construction of the mind, the ability to contain and understand, but also the need to categorise, conclude and define. The continuous blue beyond the lines reminds us that this control is ultimately a construction - An illusion even perhaps.
The second painting, with four lines, represents the arrows of questions that the Goddess of Wisdom sends into the unknown, igniting four other Goddesses. It dissolves the rigidity of perfection, and places asking questions and letting go as a necessary step toward wisdom.
Together, these paintings portray our dual need to both understand, and to know when to let go. They reveal how clarity becomes obscured under the weight of defining explanation, accumulated narrative, and control. Wisdom, at its core, is simple and clear, but the human mind layers it endlessly.
Do the accidents and challenges reflect something essential about wisdom?
Absolutely. The mind is not static; it is layered. It continuously adds narratives, interpretations, and control over clarity. The Blue paintings mirror this perfectly: marks, smudges, and even the bubble wrap patterns became part of the story. The Blue Space of Wisdom reminds us that our thoughts cannot be stripped down to perfection. It is always evolving, always accumulating more. These works are portraits of the human mind—ever-changing, layered, alive.
Blue is the space we return to when we wish to observe, reflect, and integrate.
Just as White reminds us that beginnings emerge from uncertainty, Blue teaches that insight arises not from control, but from presence, patience, and trust, which are all qualities essential for the Genuine.
How do people typically respond when they encounter Blue?
Initially, viewers see them as black, but upon closer look, and in the right light, The Blue comes forth. Reactions are often mixed, and I believe they are a reflection of what role the Blue Space plays for each person at any given moment. Some feel discomfort, even anxiety; others feel calm, at home.
Why is Blue particularly relevant now?
In my blue paintings, I see a reflection of our shared global Blue Space. We live in a world overwhelmed by information, overstimulated by digital life, and pressured to know everything instantly. Wisdom cannot thrive under such conditions.
How did converting the paintings into prints affect them?
The prints allowed me to explore the layered effects in a new way. While the paintings appear very dark, the original oil surfaces reveal bright blue when sunlight or strong light hits at the right angle. In post-production photography, I subtly enhanced this effect—not to alter the work, but to underline a quality already present in the paintings.
What do you hope people take away from Blue?
I hope they recognize the layering of their own mind, the accumulation of thoughts and external stimulation, and perhaps in glimpses the bright blue beneath it all. The wisdom that emerges naturally when we let go, accept uncertainty, and trust. These works encourage reflection, acceptance of imperfection, and the patience to allow understanding to reveal itself in time.
Blue is a space, a meditation, and a mirror for the mind. It asks us to slow down, breathe, and allow wisdom to emerge quietly, beneath the layers of life.
