Lili Elbe (born December 28, 1882, Vejle, Denmark - died September 13, 1931, Dresden, Germany) was a Danish painter who was assigned male at birth, experienced what is now called gender dysphoria, and underwent the world’s first documented sex reassignment surgery.
Born Einar Wegener, Elbe lived nearly her whole life as a man.
Beginning early in the first decade of the 20th century, Elbe (then Wegener) studied art at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts in Copenhagen and met Gerda Wegener there.
The two fell in love and got married about 1905.
From Einar Wegener to Lili Elbe
According to the book Elbe wrote - though it was credited to her friend Ernst Ludwig Hathorn Jacobson under the pseudonym Niels Hoyer - about her transition to a transgender woman (Fra Mand til Kvinde [1931; Man into Woman]), she realized her true gender identity when Gerda - a successful painter and fashion illustrator (as well as illustrator) - asked her then husband to don women’s clothing and sit as her model.
The "Danish girl" Film | Einar Wegener posed for Gerda Wegener
Wegener was her regular model thereafter.
Gerda Wegener ed Einar Wegener (Lili Elbe)
The couple eventually moved to Paris, where Wegener felt free to appear in public sometimes as Einar Wegener and sometimes as Lili Elbe.
Elbe received the Neuhausens prize in 1907 and exhibited at Kunstnernes Efterårsudstilling (the Artists' Fall Exhibition) at the Vejle Art Museum in Denmark, where she remains represented.
In 1924 her work - which included landscapes, interior scenes, still lifes, and portraits - was shown in Paris at the Salon d’Automne and the Salon des Indépendants.
Once Wegener began to transition, she and Gerda had their marriage annulled.
From Einar Wegener to Lili Elbe
The first of five highly experimental surgeries that Elbe underwent was performed in 1930.
She died of complications not long after the fifth procedure in 1931.
Before she underwent her first surgery, it had been determined by her physicians (possibly by Hirschfeld) that Elbe had more female than male hormones and likely had what is now known as Klinefelter syndrome, a disorder of the sex chromosomes that occurs in males.
The story of her transition was published shortly after her death (with pseudonyms applied to all people named in the book) and has since been retold in The Danish Girl (2000), a novel by David Ebershoff, and a major feature film by the same name (2015) starring Eddie Redmayne. | Source: © Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
Lili Ilse Elvenes, meglio conosciuto/a come Lili Elbe (28 dicembre 1882 - 13 Settembre 1931) è nato/a Einar Magnus Andreas Wegener ed è stata una paesaggista di successo Danese.
Elbe incontrò la sua futura moglie, la pittrice Danese Gerda Gottlieb Wegener alla scuola d'arte di Copenaghen, la Kunstakademiet.
Si sposarono nel 1904, quando Elbe aveva 22 anni e la Gottlieb 18.
Lavoravano nel campo delle illustrazioni: Elbe si specializzò in dipinti di paesaggi, mentre Gottlieb collaborava per riviste di moda e creava libri illustrati.
Nel 1907 ricevette il Premio Neuhausens nella sezione pittura.
Caratteristiche di Elbe erano una spiccata sensibilità e l'interesse per l'abbigliamento femminile.
Durante gli anni a Parigi, Elbe espose i suoi quadri al Salon d'Automne, Salon des Indépendants ed al Salon des humoristes.
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