The first of my Noble Gases series, which are six self-commissioned paintings expressing the chemical elements He, Ne, Ar, Kr, Xe, and Rn as hominal archetypes. Helium is named from the Greek root helios, meaning sun. As a gas it is buoyant in air, completely benign in the body, and does not freeze at any temperature we can devise. It is useful for scientific experiments into superconductivity -- the absence of electrical friction -- and as a liquid it is a superfluid which will climb the walls of its container to escape. As a mythical character she is effortlessly powerful, radiant, benevolent, and not a little "above it all."