Gerda Wegener

“Of course, I always try to find my model’s most intimate and beautiful sides, both physically and mentally ... That some of my own personality comes into it cannot be avoided if you have a personality.”

Most people today know the story of Gerda Wegener as one of an extremely untraditional and unforgettable fate, and a pioneering break with the norms and gender roles of the day. Gerda Wegener was, in many ways, a woman ahead of her time and in recent years, she has been reinterpreted in light of her artistic talent, female perspective and unconventional marriage.

Gerda Wegener’s universe was distinctly feminine. She painted art personalities, actresses and socialites of the time, but besides that, her husband Einar Wegener was used as a model and muse. In her many portraits of beautiful female figures, it is often Einar – as the model Lili Elbe – who is posing wearing different dresses and wigs. Gradually Einar turned into Lili, but outside of the canvas she could only move freely at carnivals and masquerades, where disguises and playing with identity challenged everyday norms. However, through the world’s first gender affirming surgery in 1930, a new life was born, and, like a modern Pygmalion, Lili was brought into the physical world. 

With her fashionable and slightly decadent style, Gerda Wegener occupied a somewhat isolated position in relation to the accepted art trends of the day. In 1912 she travelled to the more free-spirited Paris, where she built a stable reputation for herself. 

Very little was heard about her for many years, but the Hollywood film “The Danish Girl” from 2015 – for which Eddie Redmayne achieved an Oscar nomination for his portrayal of Lili  – and a major solo exhibition at ARKEN the following year thrust her into the spotlight and secured a place for her in art history. She is currently in demand like never before among Danish and foreign collectors.