Eva Helene Pade: Søgelys at Thaddaeus Ropac – Choreographing Light, Body, and Space
Isolated figures gradually dissolve into golden haze, as mist, sweat, and flickering lights intermingle, evoking the restless energy of a nightclub or theater. Eva Helene Pade emerges as one of the most compelling young artists of London Art Week.
Exhibition photograph by Eva Herzog. Accessed October 26, 2025. https://ropac.net/exhibitions/764-eva-helene-pade-sgelys/.
Søgelys marks Pade’s first solo exhibition in the UK, unveiling her latest series of works. The layered poses and interplay of light create a perceptual space suspended between reality and illusion, drawing viewers into a subtle choreography of gaze and movement. Earlier this year, she presented Forårsofert at Denmark’s ARKEN Museum of Contemporary Art, her first institutional-level exhibition. Here, her work was situated within an art-historical framework, allowing her practice to extend beyond the commercial sphere and signaling a pivotal moment in her artistic development.
Contemporary Visual Symphonies in a Classical Space
The precise spatial arrangement of Pade’s works establishes the rhythm of the exhibition. Drawing repeatedly on her engagement with dance and performance art, Pade suspends both monumental and smaller canvases from floor-to-ceiling metal columns, lifting them away from the walls. The effect is a dynamic choreography of visual movement. “It forces people to move between the paintings, connecting them as part of an ensemble; they speak to each other,” she explains. “I want viewers to navigate freely, even seeing the works from behind,” she adds. This curatorial approach evokes a theatrical sense of staging, yet the paintings are not mere scenery—they dominate the viewer’s attention under the spotlight.
The emphasis on bodily movement and visual rhythm resonates subtly with the character of the Thaddaeus Ropac gallery. Housed in Ely House, a former London residence of the Bishop of Ely and a Grade I listed building, the gallery’s historical architecture amplifies the tension and spectacle of Pade’s work. Within this space, her paintings seem to summon a primeval yet worldly visual feast: the tumult of the imagery is magnified against the stillness of the surroundings, creating a dialogue that arrests the viewer.
Interaction between the work and the space. Photograph by the author, 26 October 2025.
Such a spatial grammar will feel familiar to those acquainted with her work. Earlier this year, at ARKEN, she similarly positioned ten paintings on metal stands, allowing them to occupy the space independently rather than clinging to the walls. Each canvas captured a moment from Pina Bausch’s reinterpretation of Stravinsky’s 1913 ballet The Rite of Spring, continuing her visual language centered on the body, rhythm, and motion—like a series of interrupted and reactivated gestures suspended between canvas and space.
Eva Helene Pade, Forårsofret, ARKEN Museum of Contemporary Art, Denmark. Image source: Nicolai Wallner, Eva Helene Pade works, https://nicolaiwallner.com/eva-helene-pade/works/ (accessed 26 October 2025).
Art-Historical Resonances: Pade’s Visual Vocabulary
Born in 1997, Pade is the youngest artist signed by Thaddaeus Ropac. Her visual language is strikingly mature for her age, grounded in her skillful appropriation and reinterpretation of art‑historical references.
Viewing her work, one might naturally recall familiar artists or artworks—sometimes Manet, sometimes Gustav Klimt or Edvard Munch. These associations emerge from borrowed compositions or atmospheric echoes. Her emotionally charged canvases convey anxiety, chaos, and melancholy with remarkable intensity. In Den fundne (The Found one) (2025), a woman rescued from a crowd collapses in the pose of the Pietà, referencing one of art history’s most iconic images.
Beyond her sustained engagement with art-historical citation, the “female collective” remains central to her practice. Pade has stated that she refuses to depict the female body as an object of desire or as a fixed individual identity, positioning her work as a critique of the male gaze—an intention that resonates with contemporary debates on gender and representation. Yet some critics note that even when the female nude is stripped of bodily specificity or personal narrative, its gendered markers remain unmistakable, leaving the works open to erotic interpretation. This unresolved tension runs through her oeuvre and invites further critical examination.
Eva Helene Pade, Den fundne (The Found One), 2025. Photograph by the author, 26 October 2025.
Pade’s paintings strike with immediate visual impact: bold in color, dynamic in composition, and unsettling in atmosphere. They weave together historical references and contemporary concerns, including depictions of the female body, collective agency, and performativity, revealing a rigorous visual and theoretical foundation. Narrative threads run throughout her work, yet conclusions remain deliberately open, inviting viewers to engage, reflect, and imagine. Her oeuvre is vibrant, erudite, aesthetically compelling, and intellectually probing.
Reference
ARKEN Museum of Contemporary Art. “Forårsofret Eva Helene Pade.” Accessed October 26, 2025. https://www.arken.dk/en/exhibitions/eva-helene-pade.
Artefields. “Eva Helene Pade, ou l'art de dissoudre les corps.” Accessed October 26, 2025. https://www.artefields.net/eva-helene-pade-painting-ropac/.
Cowie Montgomery Architects. “Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac.” Accessed October 26, 2025. https://www.cowiemontgomeryarchitects.co.uk/project/galerie-thaddaeus-ropac/?utm_source=chatgpt.com.
Thaddaeus Ropac. “Eva Helene Pade Søgelys.” Accessed October 26, 2025. https://ropac.net/usr/documents/exhibitions/press_release_url/764/ehplondon25_press-release.pdf.