Lili Elbe – born Einar Wegener – was a Danish landscape painter of the early 20th Century who later in life became a transgender woman. He was married to Gerda Wegener, a successful art deco illustrator and painter known for her slightly erotic, yet secessionist style. Although Einar was likely born with Klinefelter Syndrome, his conscious journey towards femininity began while posing as a woman for his wife’s paintings.

How Lili Elbe was created

The couple married happily in 1904. They were not only lovers, but also best friends. As Gerda was fascinated with women and images of female beauty, she encouraged her husband to dress up as a woman and pose for her during many years of their marriage.

Using the name Lili, the young man began to fall for his new personality, while his talented wife gained increasing recognition as an artist by depicting her husband’s feminine appearance in a style that became her own. Einar himself gave up painting for the latter part of his life as he became focused on his mismatched body and how to rectify it.

Long before his first operation, Einar – who had clearly become uncomfortable with his biological constraints – would regularly leave the house wearing dresses and a wig. Friends and acquaintances of the couple may have been justified in wondering why Gerda allowed and even encouraged her husband in his transsexual strivings, especially given the strict social norms against such freedoms at the time. The answer may lie at the root of speculation that Gerda herself was homosexual, and that this was the true motivation for the illustration of lesbian women and themes in her pieces.

In 1912 the couple moved to Paris. While attending many balls and social gatherings, Gerda presented the effeminate Lili as her sister. Although Gerda’s career was blossoming, Einar was confused and unhappy. He described Lili as a: “…thoughtless, flighty, very superficially-minded woman, prone to fits of weeping and barely able to speak in front of powerful men…”

A happy-unhappy time

Increasingly frustrated with his status, Einar sold many of his paintings, and with the proceeds was able to finance a series of pioneering sex change operations in Germany to transform his body. By 1930, Lili Elbe had officially become a transgender woman. In that year, her marriage to Gerda was also annulled by the King of Denmark.

Although she had accomplished her personal mission to become a woman, it was hard for other people to accept her new body, and Lili felt rejected by many of her contemporaries. One year later, following an unsuccessful final operation, the transgender woman passed away due to post-operative complications in Dresden, Germany at the age of 48.

In 2015, British director Tom Hooper directed an internationally acclaimed movie called The Danish Girl, starring Eddie Redmayne and Alicia Vikander.