Painting – and the act of painting – is not merely the gesture of the hands applying pigment. Painting is not solely the frame and the materials that physically constitute the work. Indeed, painting exists even before it takes form physically. Even if painting did not have a concept in itself before the Renaissance, the act of painting and creating images is prehistoric. However, there is one myth in the history of painting that I can never forget.

A Greek myth, written down by Pliny the Elder (23/24 – 79 BCE), recounts that when men went to war or on a long travel in antiquity, women traced the contours of their lovers' shadow upon the wall – an act borne of longing, a means of preserving their beloved’s presence as a memory. These women did not know if they would ever see their husbands or lovers again. Thus, the idea – or the myth – emerged that painting was invented by women as a means of enduring grief, longing, separation, uncertainty, war, and unfulfilled love.

“She was in love with a youth, and when he was leaving the country, she traced the outline of the shadow which his face cast on the wall by lamplight.” - Pliny the Elder, from the Elder Pliny’s Chapters on the History of Art.

This myth constitutes an entire genre in the history of painting, exemplified by some of the most renowned works: The Origin of Painting (1786) by Jean-Baptiste Regnault, Invention of the Art of Drawing (1791) by Joseph Benoît Suvée, and The Origin of Painting (The Maid of Corinth) (1775) by David Allan.

My works – even when they do not employ painting as a medium – emerge from this ‘space of painting’. A space of longing, love, separation and absence. Whether the beloved be my mother, my father, a man, a friend, a conversation, an unborn child, a light over the streets of Athens, or simply a memory I yearn for. My works are created from a constant state of longing, or perhaps be it a paradox: a longing to never long again?

As the Greek myth suggests the eroticism and eros that my works explore are not merely explicit as a subject or theme in certain pieces; rather, they refer, more crucially, to the burning existential longing in which everything – for the painter – is set ablaze.

To be an artist is to hold a room of one's own sexuality. Indeed, it is only recently that we have begun to acknowledge that female artists, too, have had male muses, just as male artists have historically had female muses. The recognition of female sexuality in our visual culture and fine art as something psychological, creative and spiritual – rather than merely an object of male desire – is, perhaps surprising for some, also part of the broader development of politics in terms of strengthening artistic freedom, women's free speech and equality.

Furthermore, when artists like me create works that engage with eroticism as both theme and motif, it is in order to examine that which remains vastly underrepresented in art history: the female gaze and visual representations of female sexuality. If I can map not only the subject of desire but, more crucially, the space
of desire itself, then I do so. In other words, to paint is to wear the 'wings of desire’.

by Augusta Atla

*The title is an homage to Wim Wenders. The only problem with his cinematic masterpiece, Wings of Desire (1987), is that there was no female angel falling in love with a man on earth. My work, on the other hand, is almost always about a fallen female angel in love with a man on Earth and her struggle to understand the universal human pain of Eros.

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Augusta Atla (b. 1979, Copenhagen, DK) is a visual artist, poet, and writer educated in London with a BA in Fine Art (Studio Practice) from Goldsmiths in London (UK) and an MA History & Theory from the Architectural Association in London (UK).

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She works with various media, such as photography, collages, drawing, video, sculpture, paintings, and installations. In her works, Atla investigates the female gaze and discusses ideas like gender, voyeurism, memory, identity, power and sexuality.

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Augusta is also a passionate art critic, debater and lecturer, and a politically engaged writer on the politics of art. Augusta interviewed the Danish Minister of Culture in 2022 regarding gender discrimination issues in the world of contemporary art and the gender gap in the state-supported museums of Denmark. Augusta articles have been published in Berlingske, Dagbladet Information, Politiken, Magasinet Kunst, CHART Publication, Kulturmonitor, Børsen, Weekendavisen and Jyllands-Posten. Between 2022-2023 Augusta had a monthly column at Kunsten.nu. Augusta is often on the radio and podcasts participating in debates of the importance of free art in a democracy. She has participated in DR TV DEADLINE, TV2 DATO podcast, Berlingske Pilestræde, P1 Kulturen and many more.

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She has received the Award of Excellence from Goldsmiths University of London (2006), the Horsens Art Museum Art Award (2007), Anne Marie Telmányi født Carl-Nielsens Fond til Støtte for Kvindelige Billedkunstnere over 40 years (2023), Dansk Tennis Fond Residency (2023) and a work grant from the Finn Nørgaard Association (2025).

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Between 2007 and 2016 Augusta lived like a nomad, years in Venice, Rome, Athens, Paris. An art pilgrimage, visiting the works of the masters of European art, researching religious iconography and exploring the history of Greek Antiquity. From 2014 to 2016, Augusta founded, curated and ran MAISON d’ART CONTEMPORAIN ATHÈNES in Athens, Greece.

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Atlas exhibitions include Horsens Art Museum, Rønnebæksholm, Sophienholm Kunsthal, Viborg Kunsthal, Randers Art Museum, Museet for Samtidskunst, Brandts, Charlottenborg Kunsthal. Augusta Atla has also exhibited at exhibitions abroad: REMAP4 Contemporary Art Festival Athens, Greece; Fundació Antoni Tàpies, Spain; Tou Scene, Norway; Academy of Arts Berlin, Germany; Center for Contemporary Art, Amsterdam, The Netherlands; Institut du Monde Arabe, Paris, France; The Danish Institute in Athens, Athens, Greece; Tallinna Kunstihoone, Estonia; Michael Cacoyannis Foundation, Athens, Greece.

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Atlas works are represented at both private and public collections, including Horsens Art Museum, Danish Arts Foundation, The Danish Parliament's Art Collection and Randers Art Museum as well as private collections such as Viafarini (IT), NEON / Dimitris Daskalopoulos Collection (GR).

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