A Place to Come Home with Helena Rye

This month, we’re honored to introduce Helena Rye, a Copenhagen-based, self-taught artist whose ethereal paintings invite the viewer into a quieter, more contemplative space.

Working primarily with soft pastels and oil paint, Helena creates dreamlike worlds that feel both otherworldly and deeply familiar. Her work isn’t about depicting a place so much as evoking a feeling: a sense of stillness, belonging, and gentle return.

Helena describes her paintings as spaces to quiet the mind. Each piece unfolds like a meditation, guiding the viewer inward and away from the noise of everyday life. There’s a softness to her imagery that feels intentional, almost protective, as if the work itself is offering refuge.

Living and working in Copenhagen, Helena draws inspiration from the inner landscape as much as the outer one. Her paintings feel suspended in time unbound by gravity or place, creating an experience that transcends the physical and leans into the emotional and intuitive. Some immediate words that come to mind are dreamy, magical and delicate.

We first came across Helena’s work through Instagram and immediately felt a sense of calm wash over us. Her paintings have a way of slowing you down. Given the content and the aesthetic, you are invited to linger and settle in.

There is something about her work that feels like being held in a quiet moment, the kind you don’t realize you’ve been craving until you’re already inside it. When we spoke, I learned that she also worked as a developer and UI designer, balancing her artistic intentions alongside her day job. It wasn’t until she was laid off that she decided to lean fully into her art. Life, it seems, had other plans.

Radiant Bloom was the first piece of Helena’s that I saw, and the one that made me pause. There’s an immediate warmth to it, paired with a sense of intrigue. The forms seem to open outward, like something gently unfolding, while the backdrop spirals in the other direction. To me, it feels as though a hand is softly pulling back a curtain, revealing a vast, swirling space that exists just beyond what we usually see.

It feels a bit like standing at the threshold between waking and dreaming, where everything softens and the noise fades.

In Cosmic Lily, seen above, Helena leans further into the idea of transcendence. The flower we see becomes less about a physical object and more about a state of being- open, expansive, and unbound.

There’s a gentle aura to this piece. Nothing is rushed; everything reveals itself in its own time. It’s the kind of painting that rewards stillness. The longer you sit with it, the more you begin to wonder what else it could mean.

Helena is deeply inspired by nature and often finds much inspiration and grounding from natural surroundings, something that seems to translate into her work.

Across all of her pieces, Helena’s intention is clear. Her paintings aren’t meant to overwhelm or explain. They offer a quiet place to land and a moment of stillness in the middle of everything else.

In a world that moves quickly and demands constant attention, her work reminds us that softness can be powerful, and that sometimes, the most meaningful experiences are the quiet ones. We hope you are inspired by the worlds she creates! 

What would you like people to know when they first come across your artworks?

When people first encounter my artworks, I want them to feel a deep sense of belonging and inner peace, as if they are naturally entering a meditative state. My pieces are created to be gentle reminders to slow down, breathe, and reconnect with inner stillness, especially in a world that moves quickly and constantly pulls our attention outward. I want my art to feel like a soft refuge, a world they can escape into when the external becomes overwhelming.

Each piece is also an energetic reminder of the presence of God or the universe within every one of us. I hope viewers feel guided, protected, and supported by something greater as they immerse themselves in the work. My intention is for my art to serve as a sanctuary or an invitation to return home to themselves. To remember their natural calm, and to trust that they are always held, even in moments of uncertainty.

When thinking about where you are in your journey, what are you most excited about and what keeps you inspired for the future?

When I think about where I am in my journey, what excites me most is the feeling that I am only just beginning. Even though I am still early in my art career, everything has unfolded incredibly quickly. Through social media, I’ve been able to connect with people all over the world and attract opportunities I never imagined would arrive this quickly. Having both online and physical exhibitions in London, New York, and Copenhagen has shown me what is possible when I stay aligned with my purpose and create from intuition.

Right now, I feel like I’ve entered a cocoon stage again with my work where a new level of creativity is emerging. I’m inspired to scale my works, take on more ambitious pieces, and expand my medium by exploring oil painting. I’m excited for future exhibitions, new collaborations, and the evolution of my artistic voice. I am inspired by the fact that each month my practice continues to evolve, and my artistic voice becomes even more potent.

If you could go to dinner with any artist, who would it be and why?

I would definitely love to have dinner with Agnes Pelton. Her spiritual and intuitive approach to art-making deeply resonates with me, as she created work that serves as a bridge between the visible and the invisible, the material and the spiritual. I feel a strong connection to the way she used color, form, and symbolism to explore inner worlds and higher consciousness. I think a conversation with her would be so inspiring. I would love to hear about her process and learn about how she tuned into her intuition as she created. 

What is the best piece of advice you've been given?

For me, a simple phrase “always follow your intuition” is something I carry with me both in life and in my artistic practice. Choosing the artistic path has been one of the clearest ways I have acted on my intuition, and although it often brings fear, unexpected opportunities and surprises appear every time I follow it. These surprises have shown me that trusting my inner guidance leads to growth, new experiences, and fulfillment beyond what I could have planned or imagined.

I also carry this intuitive knowing with me through to my artistic practice. When I allow intuition to guide my work, I never fully know the outcome. And that uncertainty can be both challenging and exciting. But each time I surrender to that intuitive flow, the final piece often exceeds my expectations and brings me a deeper sense of satisfaction. Following intuition has become both a compass and a practice of trust, shaping who I am as an artist and as a person.

How has your practice evolved over time?

In the past I used to plan my works a lot and most of my inspiration would come from external objects in the world. Now my practice has gradually become more intuitive and my inspiration comes from within. I usually create my works as I am making them, so I never really know how they are going to turn out! There is a lot of experimentation involved. This is also why I love working with pastels, because the medium allows me to change the direction of the artwork in an instant. Working this way can sometimes be frustrating, as I am still learning to trust my instincts and let go of the part of my mind that wants to control the outcome. But it is precisely this unpredictability that makes the process exciting.

What music are you listening to these days?

I love to listen to ambient and meditative music when I create, it sets the tone for my works and helps me enter a deep flow state. 

Did you always know you wanted to be an artist? If so, was there a particular moment that gave you the confidence to start sharing your work with the world?

Art has always been a big part of my life. As a child, I mostly drew cartoons and my ultimate dream was to become a Disney animator. During my teenage years and early twenties, my life revolved around school, friends, and education, but art was something I kept as a hobby. However, I always had this quiet voice in my head urging me to pursue art. I was hesitant because I loved stability, and the image of the “starving artist” haunted me for a long time. That made it difficult to fully act on my instincts for a long time.

As I entered my 30s, I realized that ignoring that inner voice meant ignoring a core part of myself. It was not until I was laid off from my job in 2024 that I began to take art making seriously. My thirties brought a sudden awareness of life’s finiteness, and I knew I didn’t want to reach the end of my life regretting the dreams I never pursued. This mindset shift became the driving force behind my decision to fully commit to art.

I asked myself if not now, then when? It felt far better to give it my all and fail than to never try at all. Pursuing art now feels both urgent and deeply fulfilling, and it has given me a renewed sense of freedom and alignment with my truest self.