Artwork by "The Danish Girl"

Einar Wegener/Lili Elbe was one of the first persons in the world to undergo sex reassignment surgery and was thus in many ways a pioneer within the history of gender identity.

The story of Wegener/Elbe is both compelling and tragic because the journey from man to woman ultimately proved fatal. For Elbe it was not enough to look like a woman - she wanted to be a woman with the ability to carry "just a tiny child." One of the operations failed and she died in 1931 from severe complications following the surgery.

Landscape Painter and Muse

Einar Wegener was trained as a landscape painter, while Lili Elbe was primarily a muse and model for the wife Gerda Wegener’s portraits. In 1912 the couple moved from Denmark to the more open-minded Paris, where Elbe could live openly as a woman.

Einar Wegener often found his inspiration in Versailles’ lavish park area, in the picturesque Luxembourg gardens or from travels to the island of Capri and similar places.

The auction also includes two works from Danish settings and a beautiful still life painted in 1926.

The artwork up for auction can be seen here