Gerda Wegener was born in Hobro in 1885, the daughter of a priest. Coming from such a traditional, conservative background, an artistic career was not in the cards for her – and certainly not one of such a sensational and scandalous nature as fate would have it. However, her talent could not be denied, and she trained as a painter at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts’ School of Art for Women. While she did not consider her time at the academy to be of particular importance to her artistic development, it was a time of great importance on a personal level, as it was here that she met her future husband, Einar Wegener, in the spring of 1902.

The atmospheric watercolour here being offered for auction is created the same year as Wegeners breakthrough as an illustrator, winning a drawing competition for Politiken. For a number of years she works for the newspaper and also provides satirical drawings for various magazines, but with her fashionable and slightly decadent style she occupies a rather isolated position in relation to the accepted art trends. As early as 1912, the couple left Copenhagen and settled in the more free-spirited fashion metropolis, Paris, where Gerda Wegener built a stable reputation as a painter and illustrator. Her success is in itself remarkable, because then – as now – many foreign artists tries to break through in Paris, and only a few succeeds.