Lili Elbe was a successful Danish artist who underwent five surgeries to become who she really was. At the Copenhagen School of Fine Arts, she met her wife, who was also an artist Gerda Gottlieb. One day her wife asked her to replace a model who had not arrived. Lili agreed and posed in stockings and heels, feeling good, and comfortable.
Lili specialized in landscape painting and in 1907 received the Neuhausen Prize, a Danish award for architects and visual artists. After her first modeling experience, Lili became Gerda’s favorite muse and they moved to Paris in 1912. Lili began to wear women’s clothes on a regular basis, she wanted to assert herself as a woman, and Gerda, always supportive, introduced her as one of her husband’s cousins.
Lili’s Strength
Lili experienced a period of struggle in her life, in which she wrote in her diary that at times she was ‘a thoughtless, frivolous and superficial woman; while at others, ‘a man who could weather storms’. Lili visited different doctors in search of help, unfortunately, she was a victim of discrimination and what we now know is transphobia.
Lili’s case became a sensation in newspapers in Denmark and Germany. The King of Denmark invalidated the Wegener’s marriage and Lili legally got her sex and name changed and received a passport with her female name.
She stopped painting as well, as she believed that this was something she did as a man and it was not her place to continue doing it as a woman. Even though the King invalidated their marriage, Gerda was always there for Lili and referred to her as ‘My poor little Lili’.
Lili’s Life
Dr. Magnus Hirschfeld was the first physician to research and advocate for people whose gender did not correspond to the sex they were assigned at birth and was also the founder of the first gay and transgender rights organization. And it was this doctor who would help Lili in her transition.
In 1930 she met Dr. Magnus who introduced her to Dr. Kurt Warnekros at the Dresden Women’s Clinic and under Magnus’ supervision she underwent her first surgery. Lili underwent four other surgeries, the last of which, unfortunately, was the one that would end her life. Lili dreamed of becoming a mother and was anxious for the final surgery, which involved a uterus transplant.
Her Last Surgery
Lili began a relationship with French art dealer Claude Lejeune, with whom she wanted to marry and have children, which reason why Lili was anxious for the final surgery.
In July 1931 Lili had an operation that involved a uterus transplant. At that time these procedures were new and experimental, so her immune system rejected the uterus and she developed an infection.
Lili knew her end was near and wrote to her sister saying ‘Last night I dreamed about mom. She took me in her arms and called me Lili. I am Lili, vital and I have proven that I have had the right to live for 14 months. Fourteen months may not be a long time, but to me, it has seemed like a whole and happy life.’
Three months after the surgery, on September 13, 1931, Lili died of cardiac arrest brought on by infection.
