The Intensity of Color To look at the work of Ester Helenius is to encounter a specific, unyielding approach to pigment. She did not merely apply color; she used it to command attention. While some might label her work through the lens of mere decoration, the sheer force of her palette suggests something more visceral. Her paintings possess a certain energy that earned her the reputation of a worshipper of ecstasy. This was not a polite or subtle way to paint. It was a direct confrontation with light and hue. Her technical foundation was broad, spanning oil on canvas, watercolor, and printm…