Lili

In Gerda Wegener’s artwork, we encounter Lili Elbe, formerly known as Einar Wegener, who underwent one of the first gender reassignment surgeries nearly a century ago. Both artists were pioneers of gender performance; together they challenged the boundaries of gender identity in art as much as in life.

Wegener, a leading female artist in Denmark during the 1920s, was recognized not only for her considerable artistic skill but also for her marriage to Lili Elbe. Elbe eventually gave up painting to become Gerda's model. She posed for a popular series of jazzy, eroticized portraits in the Art Deco style that simultaneously fascinated and fooled the world. In this 1922 painting, we see Lili sitting gallantly.

In 1929 and 1930, Lili Elbe underwent several previously untried gender reassignment surgical procedures in Berlin and Dresden. Then, her marriage was annulled because, under Danish and other laws, two women couldn't be married to each other. Elbe died of complications after her fourth surgery in Dresden in 1931, where she is also buried.

P.S. Gerda created multiple portraits of Lili—her favorite model, who inspired her femme fatale paintings. One of them is featured in our Women Artists Postcard Set, which you can check out in the DailyArt Shop.  :) 

P.P.S. Wegener and Elbe were most certainly a unique couple at the beginning of the 20th century. Learn more about their story through their art!