Helene Lundbye Petersen on Responsibility and Use of Power
by Maria Belton
The Red Space
Each Colour Space in the Spectrum holds its own state of being. After White, Blue, and Orange, comes Red. Can you describe what this Space is about?
Red is the Space of the Will, Battle and War. It holds our force and power, the energy that each of us carries and chooses to direct. Driven by intention, passion, ambition and desire, it fuels our actions and compels us to confront and engage with life. In Red, we encounter our constructive and destructive forces, whether we build or destroy, defend or attack.
The understanding of the Red Space derives from The Red Book – Ode to Battle, where a Goddess of War embodies the force of life itself. She has always been moving across the eternal battlefield of our desires and ambitions, until one day, when she is confronted with Wisdom (The Blue Book), she falls and loses her meaning. In that fall, humility arises. She begins to see the consequences of her (and our) actions. And that brings her to understand the responsibility and discernment required for power to burn bright rather than destroy.
Red holds the raw, immediate state of the Will that is capable of driving creativity and accomplishment, yet equally capable of stagnation, misuse, or excess. It demands attention, care, and conscious engagement to understand what we genuinely want, and to navigate the tension between giving power, taking power, and governing this force of the Will wisely.
How did you experience Red when you began painting it?
Red was the most voracious of all the paintings. The canvases just consumed pigment and I needed multiple containers.
The first layers were translucent, almost runny, and difficult to “catch” on the canvas. Stains ran down the surface, and it was very dramatic, raw, alive and demanding. It required full presence to work with them. At the same time, it felt intensely vital, full of force and power. It made me think of the blood that runs through our bodies, and keeps us alive.
How did that translate into the paintings’ imagery?
As with all the Colour Space paintings, the Red works draw directly from the imagery of The Red Book – Ode to Battle.
The first painting depicts a minimal torch, a symbol of the fire each of us carries and must learn to master. It also subtly relates to the Orange painting with the drop, but here the emphasis is on contained force. The torch represents the energy we hold, the potential of our will. Power can be harnessed for clarity and purpose, but it can also be drained, misused, abused, misdirected, or squandered. It can burn bright, or burn everything to the ground. Red asks: Where do we direct our power? What do we genuinely wish to accomplish?
The second painting depicts a shooting dart, where all is black, except for a very small white dot at the centre. It is easy to focus on the surrounding darkness and overlook the small white point. Yet that small white space represents what we genuinely want. It invites us to seek it out, to recognise it, and to focus our energy with intention, channelling our will toward this true aim rather than scatter it around.
Red, like all the Colour Spaces, is not a symbol but a lived experience. It embodies the intensity of our choices, the fire of desire, and the vitality of being. The paintings themselves are the Red Space, they are alive, layered, demanding, and capable of guiding us toward clarity and purposeful action.
Photo by Morten Eggert at The Danish Parliament Christiansborg, Copenhagen
When you speak, it becomes very visual, almost cinematic, and it opens many interpretations of the paintings and the colours. How is it that you see Red as both a personal and collective force?
Red operates on both personal and communal levels. The same energy that fuels action in private life also shapes collective action — for better or worse. Red can manifest destructively through conflict, aggression, or the misuse of power. Yet the underlying principles remain the same: discernment, focus, and intentionality are required to navigate this vital space responsibly — in how we act toward ourselves and toward one another.
The Goddess of War teaches that the Red Space contains both constructive and destructive impulses. She holds our ambitions, desires, and will — the capacity to act in alignment with what we genuinely want. The torch and the dart invite reflection on how we wield power: where we aim it, what we give away, and how we maintain balance in action.
Actually, when exhibited in the Danish Parliament, the Red works became the most popular of the series. Perhaps they mirrored the urgency, force, and constant negotiation of power present and the ongoing battles that must be faced in political life.
We all have battles we are part of, yet we are collectively interconnected. Whether we address the Red Space individually, in relationships, or on a global platform, the underlying energy is the same. The overwhelm of personal stress and the fragmentation or conflict between groups stem from the same force — how we manage and direct our will.
Red is very powerful.
It is. Red is pure energy — intense, demanding, and vital. It challenges us to confront our choices and embrace both personal and collective responsibility.
Red reminds us that the fire of will, when consciously engaged, can illuminate, transform, and energise both ourselves and the world around us, and guide us through the battles we choose, or are compelled, to face.
To read more about the Red Space, dive into her exhibition here: The Red Space
Find the Red Print that calls to you:
In a world saturated with images, information and noise, Danish artist and philosopher Helene Lundbye Petersen has built an entire artistic universe around 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, breathing artwork that weaves together philosophy, performance, writing, and painting. At its core lies a call to return to what she names the Genuine: the raw, unfiltered resonance between self, other, and existence itself. Through her Colour Spectrum of Genuine Being, each hue becomes a space of emotion and insight — an experience to enter rather than a concept to grasp.
