• Lili Elbe [Einar Wegner] Copenhagen Studio, ca. 1900

Lili Elbe [Einar Wegner] Copenhagen Studio, ca. 1900

'From my Studio. Kastelsvej Copenhagen.' Signed lower left "Einar Wegener."  Oil on canvas.  23 x 25 inches (58 x 64 cm).  Crackling throughout, extra canvas mounted loosely on the reverse. Overall fine condition. 

A rare original work by the Danish artist, a transgender woman who was one of the first identifiable recipients of gender affirming surgery. Elbe was born Einar Magnus Andreas Wegener and was a successful painter under that name. She also presented as Lili (sometimes spelled Lily) and was publicly introduced as Einar's sister. After successfully transitioning in 1930, she made a legal name change to Lili Ilse Elvenes and stopped painting altogether. She died from complications of one of her sex reassignment surgeries.  Her autobiography, Man into Woman, was posthumously published in 1933 and in 2000, David Ebershoff wrote The Danish Girl, a fictionalized account of the life of Lili Elbe, which was an international bestseller and was translated into a dozen languages. In 2015 it was made into a successful film, also called The Danish Girl, produced by Gail Mutrux and Neil LaBute and starring Eddie Redmayne as Elbe.