Elsa Thoresen was born in the USA to Norwegian parents. She first studied at the Arts and Crafts School and the Academy of Fine Arts in Oslo. Here she met Vilhelm Bjerke Petersen, whom she later married. Thoresen continued her studies at the Académie des Beaux-Arts in Brussels in the years 1927–29, before settling in Denmark.

Thoresen belonged to the group of Danish surrealists, and she maintained throughout her life a friendship with Rita Kernn-Larsen. They were – together with Franciska Clausen – some of the few women who achieved access to the international exhibitions, including the surrealism exhibition in Paris, 1938. Thoresen's artistic oeuvre followed two paths; partly a figurative and later a more abstract one where the forms gradually dissolved, and the expression took on a more naturally lyrical form. During the Second World War, Thoresen and Bjerke-Petersen fled to Sweden, where they lived for a number of years. They divorced in 1953, after which Thoresen moved permanently to the United States with the couple's two children.

Her connection to Danish art history is sparse, but in recent years her works have been re-introduced to a domestic audience. We are currently experiencing great interest in her dreamy landscapes of surreal quality, and at the auction here, we have as many as three paintings on offer. Her palette is often kept in pink and lavender shades with recognizable elements – as well as recurring figurations – that evoke connotations of an intimate, inner space.