CARTA || Christa Zaat

Gerda Wegener (Danish illustrator and painter) 1886 - 1940
aka Gerda Gottlieb Wegener Porta
Hjerterdame (Lili) (Queen of Hearts (Lili)), 1928
Arken Museum of Modern Art, Ishøj, Denmark
Foto: Morten Pors

Lili Elbe was a trans woman. She was born a male in Denmark in 1882 and named Einar Wegener. He married Gerda Wegener: they were both painters. He changed sex and was called Lili Elbe. Elbe had several surgical operations to reconfigure her genital organs, and died in the course of her fifth operation.

* * *

Lili Elbe (28 December 1882 – 13 September 1931) was an intersex person and one of the first identifiable recipients of sex reassignment surgery. Elbe was born in Denmark as Einar Mogens Wegener and was a successful artist under that name. She also presented as Lili, sometimes spelled Lily and publicly was introduced as Einar's sister. After transitioning, however, she made a legal name change and stopped painting.
Elbe's year of birth is sometimes stated as 1886. This appears to be from a book about her, which has some facts changed to protect the identities of the persons involved. Factual references to Gerda Gottlieb's life indicate that the 1882 date is correct as they clearly married while at college in 1904.

* * *

She grew up originally from the provinces as the daughter of a clergyman. She moved to Copenhagen to pursue her education at the Royal Art Academy, and married fellow artist Einar Wegener (later Lili Elbe) (1882–1931) in 1904.

After moving to Paris in 1912, she found much success both as a painter and as illustrator for Vogue, La Vie Parisienne, Fantasio, and many other magazines. As she found fame in Paris, Gerda also developed a following in her home country. She held exhibitions at Ole Haslunds gallery in Copenhagen at regular intervals. Her career relied on a phenomenal talent but perhaps even more so on her notorious diligence, and the advantages that her unusual marriage brought her.

Lili Elbe, who by many at the time was considered a more talented artist, toned down her own work and profile to help her wife in her artistic endeavors. Posing for Gerda in women's clothes, Lili became Gerda's favorite model, and eventually came out as a male-to-female transsexual woman. She had the first publicly known sex reassignment surgery in history in 1930. Her partner supported Elbe throughout her transition. The Wegeners' marriage was declared null and void in October 1930 by Christian X, the King of Denmark at that time.
In 1931, Gerda Wegener married the Italian officer, aviator and diplomat Major Fernando Porta (born 1896) and moved with him to Morocco (specifically Marrakech and Casablanca). She divorced Porta in 1936 and returned to Denmark in 1938. She held her last exhibition in 1939, but by this time she was largely out of fashion. She died in July 1940.
Christa Zaat