:Lili Elbe

{{Short description|Danish painter and transgender woman (1882–1931)}}

{{For|the opera|Lili Elbe (opera){{!}}Lili Elbe (opera)}}

{{Infobox person

| name = Lili Elbe

| image = Lili Elbe 1926.jpg

| alt = Black-and-white photograph of Lili Elbe. She is a white woman with dark hair. She is wearing a sunflower dress and jewelry and holding a hand fan.

| caption = Elbe in 1926

| birth_date = {{Birth date|df=yes|1882|12|28}}

| birth_place = Vejle, Denmark

| death_date = {{Death date and age|df=yes|1931|9|13|1882|12|28}}

| death_place = Dresden, Germany

| other_names = Lili Ilse Elvenes (legal name)

| spouse = {{marriage|Gerda Wegener|1904|1930|end={{abbr|annul.|annulled}}}}

| occupation =

| known_for =

}}

Lili Ilse Elvenes (28 December 1882 – 13 September 1931), better known as Lili Elbe, was a Danish painter, transgender woman, and one of the earliest recipients of gender-affirming surgery (then called sex reassignment surgery).{{Cite journal |last=Hirschfeld |first=Magnus |author-link=Magnus Hirschfeld |year=1926 |title=Chirurgische Eingriffe bei Anomalien des Sexuallebens |journal=Therapie der Gegenwart |language=de |pages=67, 451–455}}

Elbe was a painter under her birth name Einar Wegener.{{sfn|Meyer|2015|pp=15, 310–313}} After transitioning in 1930, she changed her legal name to Lili Ilse Elvenes, stopped painting,{{cite book |last=Meyer |first=Sabine |date=2015 |title=»Wie Lili zu einem richtigen Mädchen wurde«: Lili Elbe: Zur Konstruktion von Geschlecht und Identität zwischen Medialisierung, Regulierung und Subjektivierung |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=T4yyCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA311 |publisher=Verlag |isbn=978-3-8394-3180-1 |pages=311–314 |language=de}} and later adopted the surname Elbe. She was the first known recipient of a uterus transplant in an attempt to achieve pregnancy, but died due to the subsequent complications.{{Cite book |last=Goldberg |first=A. E. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=G74IEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA261 |title=The Sage Encyclopedia of Trans Studies |last2=Beemyn |first2=G. |publisher=Sage Publications |year=2021 |page=261 |access-date=2023-01-12 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230112225852/https://books.google.com/books?id=G74IEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA261 |archive-date=2023-01-12 |url-status=live |isbn=978-1-5443-9382-7}}{{Cite book |last=Kroløkke |first=C. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-NC-DwAAQBAJ&pg=PT154 |title=The Cryopolitics of Reproduction on Ice: A New Scandinavian Ice Age |last2=Petersen |first2=T. S. |last3=Herrmann |first3=J. R. |last4=Bach |first4=A.S. |last5=Adrian |first5=S. W. |last6=Klingenberg |first6=R. |last7=Petersen |first7=M. N. |publisher=Emerald Publishing Limited |year=2019 |isbn=978-1-83867-044-3 |series=Emerald Studies in Reproduction, Culture and Society |page=154 |access-date=2023-01-31 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230131041118/https://books.google.com/books?id=-NC-DwAAQBAJ&pg=PT154 |archive-date=2023-01-31 |url-status=live}}{{Cite web |title=Lili Elbe Biography |url=http://www.biography.com/people/lili-elbe-090815 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190106120952/https://www.biography.com/people/lili-elbe-090815 |archive-date=2019-01-06 |access-date=2015-12-11 |website=Biography.com |publisher=A&E Television Networks}}

The UK and US versions of her semi-autobiographical narrative were published posthumously in 1933 under the title Man into Woman: An Authentic Record of a Change of Sex.{{Cite web |last=Worthen |first=Meredith |date=n.d. |title=Lili Elbe – Painter |url=http://www.biography.com/people/lili-elbe-090815 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190106120952/https://www.biography.com/people/lili-elbe-090815 |archive-date=6 January 2019 |access-date=15 August 2016 |publisher=Biography.com}}{{Cite book |last=Elbe |first=Lili |title=Man Into Woman: A Comparative Scholarly Edition |publisher=Bloomsbury |year=2020 |isbn=978-1-350-02149-5 |editor-last=Caughie |editor-first=Pamela |chapter=Introduction |editor-last2=Meyer |editor-first2=Sabine}} A film inspired by her life, The Danish Girl, was released in 2015. An opera based on her life, Lili Elbe, composed by Tobias Picker, premiered in 2023.{{Cite web |title=Lili Elbe |url=https://tobiaspicker.com/opera/lili-elbe |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221018054829/https://tobiaspicker.com/opera/lili-elbe |archive-date=2022-10-18 |access-date=2022-01-11 |publisher=tobiaspicker.com}}{{Cite web |last=Charles Shafaieh |title=Living Authentically |url=https://operanews.com/Living_Authentically/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221018054824/https://operanews.com/Living_Authentically/ |archive-date=18 October 2022 |access-date=2022-09-11 |website=Opera News}}{{Cite news |last=Cannon |first=Richard |title=Lucia Lucas: The BBC Music Magazine Interview |url=https://www.classical-music.com/magazine/issues/may-2023/ |access-date=2023-09-11 |work=BBC Music Magazine}}

Early life

It is generally believed that Elbe was born in 1882, in Vejle, Denmark, the child of Ane Marie Thomsen and spice merchant Mogens Wilhelm Wegener, according to the registry at St. Nicolai Church.{{sfn|Meyer|2015|p=340}}{{Cite web |title=Kunstindeks Danmark & Weilbachs Kunstnerleksikon |url=https://www.kulturarv.dk/kid/VisWeilbachRefresh.do?kunstnerId=1237&wsektion=genealogi |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220430180648/https://www.kulturarv.dk/kid/VisWeilbachRefresh.do?kunstnerId=1237&wsektion=genealogi |archive-date=30 April 2022 |access-date=30 April 2022 |website=kulturarv.dk |language=Danish}} Her birth year is sometimes cited as 1886 by a book about her in which some facts have been changed to protect the identities of the persons involved. Facts about her wife Gerda Gottlieb's life suggest that the 1882 date is correct because they married while at college in 1904, when Elbe would have been just eighteen if the 1886 date were correct.[https://web.archive.org/web/20070927182419/http://www.cphpost.dk/get/59398.html She and She: The Marriage of Gerda and Einar Wegener]. The Copenhagen Post. 3 July 2000{{Cite web |title=Ejner Mogens Wegener, 28-12-1882, Vejle Stillinger: Maler |url=http://www.politietsregisterblade.dk/index.php?option=com_sfup&controller=politregisterblade&task=viewRegisterblad&id=1923045&limitstart=20 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150803152942/http://www.politietsregisterblade.dk/index.php?option=com_sfup&controller=politregisterblade&task=viewRegisterblad&id=1923045&limitstart=20 |archive-date=3 August 2015 |access-date=30 December 2011 |publisher=Politietsregisterblade.dk}}

It is speculated that Elbe was intersex,{{Cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/manintowomanfirs0000elbe/page/ |title=Man into Woman: The First Sex Change, a Portrait of Lili Elbe: The True and Remarkable Transformation of the Painter Einar Wegener |date=2004 |publisher=Blue Boat Books |isbn=978-0-9547072-0-0 |editor-last=Hoyer |editor-first=Niels |location=London |pages=[https://archive.org/details/manintowomanfirs0000elbe/page/ vii, 26–27, 172]}}{{Cite web |date=16 April 2009 |title=Lili Elbe's Autobiography, Man into Woman |url=https://oii.org.au/789/book-review-man-woman/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150328194132/https://oii.org.au/789/book-review-man-woman/ |archive-date=28 March 2015 |access-date=1 September 2015 |website=OII Australia – Intersex Australia |publisher=OII Australia}}{{Cite news |last=Vacco |first=Patrick |date=29 April 2014 |title=Les Miserables Actor Eddie Redmayne to Star as Queer Artist Lili Elbe |url=http://www.advocate.com/arts-entertainment/film/2014/04/29/les-miserables-actor-eddie-redmayne-star-queer-artist-lili-elbe |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150929184206/http://www.advocate.com/arts-entertainment/film/2014/04/29/les-miserables-actor-eddie-redmayne-star-queer-artist-lili-elbe |archive-date=29 September 2015 |access-date=1 September 2015 |work=The Advocate}} although that has been disputed.{{Cite journal |last=Kaufmann |first=Jodi |date=January 2007 |title=Transfiguration: A Narrative Analysis of Male-to-female Transsexual |journal=International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education |volume=20 |issue=1 |pages=1–13 |doi=10.1080/09518390600923768 |s2cid=144939698}} Some reports indicate that she already had rudimentary ovaries in her abdomen and may have had Klinefelter syndrome.{{Cite web |last=Koymasky, Matt & Andrej |date=17 May 2003 |title=Famous GLTB: Lili Elbe |url=http://andrejkoymasky.com/liv/fam/bioe1/elbe01.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071010080625/http://andrejkoymasky.com/liv/fam/bioe1/elbe1.html |archive-date=10 October 2007 |access-date=2 February 2016 |website=HistoryVSHollywood.com}} Based on Brown, Kay (1997); Aldrich R. & Wotherspoon G., Who's Who in Gay and Lesbian History, from Antiquity to WWII, Routledge, London, 2001. {{better source needed|date=August 2016}}

Marriage and modelling

File:Gerda Wegener.jpg, 1904]]

File:Lili Elbe c1920.jpg

Elbe met Gerda Gottlieb while they were students at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts in Copenhagen,{{Cite web |title=Conway's Vintage Treasures |url=http://www.vintage-movie-poster.com/Paintings/Fine_art.htm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190327130001/http://www.vintage-movie-poster.com/Paintings/Fine_art.htm |archive-date=27 March 2019 |access-date=8 April 2014 |publisher=Vintage-movie-poster.com}} and they married in 1904 when Gottlieb was nineteen and Elbe twenty-two.{{Cite news |title=Biography of Gerda Wegener |url=https://www.biography.com/artist/gerda-wegener |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190516024613/https://www.biography.com/artist/gerda-wegener |archive-date=16 May 2019 |access-date=17 December 2019 |work=Biography.com}} Gerda came from a conservative family, as her father was a vicar in the Lutheran church.{{Cite web |title=Wegener, Gerda (1886–1940) – Danish |url=https://vintageartsource.com/pages/wegener-gerda-1886-1940-danish |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220113144147/https://vintageartsource.com/pages/wegener-gerda-1886-1940-danish |archive-date=13 January 2022 |access-date=13 January 2022}} They worked as illustrators, with Elbe specialising in landscape paintings while Gottlieb illustrated books and fashion magazines.

They travelled throughout Italy and France before settling in Paris in 1912, where Elbe could live more openly as a woman by posing as Gottlieb's sister-in-law.{{Cite web |date=7 March 2017 |title=Gerda Wegener: The Truth Behind The Canvas |url=http://www.artefactmagazine.com/2017/03/07/gerda-wegener-the-truth-behind-the-canvas/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191218014745/http://www.artefactmagazine.com/2017/03/07/gerda-wegener-the-truth-behind-the-canvas/ |archive-date=18 December 2019 |access-date=17 December 2019 |website=artefactmagazine.com}} Elbe received the {{ill|Neuhausens præmie|da|lt=Neuhausens prize}} in 1907 and exhibited at Kunstnernes Efterårsudstilling (the Artists' Fall Exhibition) at the Vejle Art Museum in Denmark, where she remains represented, and in the Saloon and Salon d'Automne in Paris.[https://web.archive.org/web/20060618025105/http://www.renaissanceblackpool.org/art.html The Arts and Transgender]. renaissanceblackpool.org

Elbe started dressing in women's clothes after she found she enjoyed the stockings and heels she wore to fill in for Gottlieb's model, actress {{ill|Anna Larssen|da}}, who, on one occasion, had been late for a sitting. Larssen suggested the name Lili, and, by the 1920s, Elbe regularly presented with that name as a woman, attending various festivities and entertaining guests in her house. Gottlieb became famous for her paintings of beautiful women with haunting, almond-shaped eyes, dressed in chic apparel. The model for these depictions of petites femmes fatales was Elbe.[https://web.archive.org/web/20080110152844/http://home.get2net.dk/abra-ken/Gerda.htm Gerda Wegener]. get2net.dk{{Cite web |title=Lili Elbe (1886–1931) |url=http://www.lgbthistorymonth.org.uk/history/lilielbe.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150803154601/http://www.lgbthistorymonth.org.uk/history/lilielbe.htm |archive-date=3 August 2015 |access-date=8 April 2014 |publisher=LGBT History Month}} Elbe stopped painting after her transition.

Lili Elbe by Gerda Wegener.jpg|alt=Watercolor painting of a woman with blonde hair, wearing a flapper dress sitting at a table with a glass of champagne.|Portrait, {{circa|1928}}

Szív királynő - Lili portéja.jpg|alt=Oil painting of a woman with dark hair wearing a red dress, looking at the viewer while smoking a cigarette in front of a card game table|Portrait, {{abbr|n.d.|no date}}

Surgeries and dissolution of marriage

File:Lili Elbe 1930.jpg

In 1930, Elbe went to Germany for sex reassignment surgery, which was highly experimental at the time. She contemplated suicide before learning of these options.{{Cite web |last=Vianello |first=Laura |date=2015-12-02 |title=Lili Elbe and Gerda Gottlieb: Defining Gender through Artistic Representation |url=https://lauravianello.wordpress.com/2015/12/02/lili-elbe-and-gerda-gottlieb-defining-gender-through-artistic-representation/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230406040221/https://lauravianello.wordpress.com/2015/12/02/lili-elbe-and-gerda-gottlieb-defining-gender-through-artistic-representation/ |archive-date=6 April 2023 |access-date=2023-04-06 |website=Laura Vianello |language=en}} While in Germany, Elbe stayed in the Hirschfeld Institute for Sexual Science.{{Cite journal |last=Vicente |first=Marta V |date=2021-09-23 |title=The Medicalization of the Transsexual: Patient-Physician Narratives in the First Half of the Twentieth Century |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/jhmas/jrab037 |url-status=live |journal=Journal of the History of Medicine and Allied Sciences |volume=76 |issue=4 |pages=392–416 |doi=10.1093/jhmas/jrab037 |issn=0022-5045 |pmid=34553224 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230702182921/https://academic.oup.com/jhmas/article-abstract/76/4/392/6374273?redirectedFrom=fulltext |archive-date=2 July 2023 |access-date=26 March 2023|url-access=subscription }} Prior to commencing any surgical procedures, Elbe's psychological health was evaluated by German sexologist, Magnus Hirschfeld, through a series of tests. A series of four operations were then carried out over a period of two years. The first surgery, performed in Berlin, was the removal of the testicles, carried out by Erwin Gohrbandt.{{Cite web |title=Lili Elbe Digital Archive |url=http://www.lilielbe.org/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191218015843/http://www.lilielbe.org/ |archive-date=18 December 2019 |access-date=2023-03-26 |website=www.lilielbe.org}} The remainder of her surgeries were carried out by Kurt Warnekros, a doctor at the Dresden Municipal Women's Clinic.Brown, Kay (1997) [https://web.archive.org/web/20080308205659/http://www.transhistory.net/history/TH_Lili_Elbe.html Lili Elbe]. Transhistory.net. All of Lili Elbe's medical documents were ruined as a consequence of the Allied bombing raids that destroyed the clinic and its archives.{{Cite news |title=A Trans Timeline – Trans Media Watch |url=http://www.transmediawatch.org/timeline.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181226033626/http://www.transmediawatch.org/timeline.html |archive-date=26 December 2018 |access-date=3 February 2016 |work=Trans Media Watch}} The second operation was to implant an ovary onto her abdominal musculature and the third to remove the penis and the scrotum.{{harvnb|Meyer|2015|pp=[https://books.google.com/books?id=T4yyCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA271 271–281]}} By this time, her case had become a sensation in Danish and German newspapers. A Danish court annulled the couple's marriage in October 1930,{{harvnb|Meyer|2015|pp=[https://books.google.com/books?id=T4yyCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA308 308–311]}} and Elbe was able to have her sex and name legally changed, even receiving a passport as Lili Ilse Elvenes.{{Cite news |title=Man Into Woman |url=http://www.lilielbe.org/media/B1/B1_065.jpg |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191218014747/http://www.lilielbe.org/media/B1/B1_065.jpg |archive-date=18 December 2019 |access-date=17 December 2019}} The name "Lili Elbe" was first used in print in a Danish newspaper article written by Copenhagen journalist Louise "Loulou" Lassen for Politiken in February 1931.{{Cite news |last=Loulou Lassen |date=February 28, 1931 |title=Lili Elbe Digital Archive – Contextual Material – Et Liv gennem to Tilværelser |url=http://lilielbe.org/context/periodicals/1931-02-28_Politiken.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211002223858/http://lilielbe.org/context/periodicals/1931-02-28_Politiken.html |archive-date=2 October 2021 |access-date=2 October 2021 |work=Politiken}} Elbe returned to Dresden and began a relationship with French art dealer Claude Lejeune, whom she wanted to marry and with whom she wished to have children.{{Cite news |title=The Incredibly True Adventures of Gerda Wegener and Lily Elbe |url=http://coilhouse.net/2012/08/the-incredibly-true-adventures-of-gerda-wegener-and-lili-elbe/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190511110339/http://coilhouse.net/2012/08/the-incredibly-true-adventures-of-gerda-wegener-and-lili-elbe/ |archive-date=11 May 2019 |access-date=17 December 2019 |work=Coilhouse.net}} Gerda went on to marry an Italian man after separating from Elbe, although the marriage ended in divorce shortly after.{{Cite web |date=2021-04-06 |title=Gerda Wegener – Art, Death & Facts |url=https://www.biography.com/artists/gerda-wegener |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230401052716/https://www.biography.com/artists/gerda-wegener |archive-date=1 April 2023 |access-date=2023-03-26 |website=Biography |language=en-US}}

In 1931, Elbe returned for her fourth surgery, to transplant a uterus and construct a vaginal canal.{{Cite news |last=Harrod |first=Horatia |date=8 December 2015 |title=The Tragic True Story Behind The Danish Girl |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/film/the-danish-girl/true-story-lili-elbe-transgender/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160421213437/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/film/the-danish-girl/true-story-lili-elbe-transgender/ |archive-date=21 April 2016 |access-date=11 December 2015 |work=The Telegraph}} This made her one of the earliest transgender women to undergo a vaginoplasty surgery, a few weeks after Erwin Gohrbandt performed the experimental procedure on Dora Richter.

Death

Following Elbe's fourth surgery, her immune system rejected the transplanted uterus, leading to organ rejection due to tissue incompatibility of the allografted uterus from the female donor, and ultimately a decrease in immunity. This ultimately caused an infection, which led to her death from cardiac arrest on 13 September 1931 in Dresden, Germany, three months after the surgery.{{Cite news |date=18 September 2015 |title=Lili Elbe: The Transgender Artist behind The Danish Girl |url=http://www.theweek.co.uk/65324/lili-elbe-the-transgender-artist-behind-the-danish-girl |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181226033628/https://www.theweek.co.uk/65324/lili-elbe-the-transgender-artist-behind-the-danish-girl |archive-date=26 December 2018 |access-date=1 February 2016 |work=This Week Magazine}}{{Cite web |date=10 September 2013 |title=Lili Elbe (Einar Wegener) 1882–1931 |url=http://danmarkshistorien.dk/leksikon-og-kilder/vis/materiale/lili-elbe-einar-wegener-1882-1931/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160405231834/http://danmarkshistorien.dk/leksikon-og-kilder/vis/materiale/lili-elbe-einar-wegener-1882-1931 |archive-date=5 April 2016 |access-date=2 February 2016 |website=Danmarkshistorien.dk |language=da}}

Elbe was buried in {{ill|Trinity Cemetery (Dresden)|lt=Trinity Cemetery|de|Trinitatisfriedhof (Dresden)}} in Dresden, Germany, but the grave was leveled in the 1960s. In April 2016, a new tombstone was erected, financed by Focus Features, the production company that produced The Danish Girl.{{Cite web |date=April 23, 2016 |title=Letzte Ehre fürs Danish Girl |trans-title=Last honor for the Danish Girl |url=http://www.queer.de/bild-des-tages.php?einzel=1485 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180621042806/http://www.queer.de/bild-des-tages.php?einzel=1485 |archive-date=21 June 2018 |access-date=24 May 2017 |website=Queer.de |language=German}}{{Cite web |last=Haufe |first=Kay |date=22 April 2016 |title=Hollywood rettet Lili Elbes Grab |trans-title=Hollywood saves Lili Elbe's grave |url=http://www.sz-online.de/nachrichten/hollywood-rettet-lili-elbes-grab-3379272.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180621042937/https://www.sz-online.de/nachrichten/hollywood-rettet-lili-elbes-grab-3379272.html |archive-date=21 June 2018 |access-date=26 April 2016 |website=Sächsische Zeitung |language=de}}

Paintings

Apart from being one of the earliest recipients of gender-affirming surgery, Elbe was also a painter, but quit once she transitioned. The majority of Elbe's painting focused on landscapes. She had many successful paintings, including Portrait de femme (1923), Parti Fra Capri (1921), View from the Garden of Versailles (1922), Costal View from France (1918), and Trianon (1920), to name a few.{{Cite web |last=Shennan |first=Rhona |date=December 28, 2022 |title=Lili Elbe Paintings: Who was Transgender Artist, is The Danish Girl Film About Her, When was Her Death? |url=https://www.nationalworld.com/news/people/lili-elbe-paintings-who-was-transgender-artist-the-danish-girl-film-death-3967323 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230406040220/https://www.nationalworld.com/news/people/lili-elbe-paintings-who-was-transgender-artist-the-danish-girl-film-death-3967323 |archive-date=6 April 2023 |access-date=6 April 2023}}

In popular culture

The LGBTQ+ film festival MIX Copenhagen gives out four Lili Awards each year, named after Elbe.{{Cite web |title=MIX Copenhagen LGBT Film Festival – LGBTQ – Copenhagen |url=https://www.ellgeebe.com/en/community/events/mix-copenhagen-lgbt-film-festival-327033 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181209124317/https://www.ellgeebe.com/en/community/events/mix-copenhagen-lgbt-film-festival-327033 |archive-date=9 December 2018 |access-date=8 December 2018 |website=ellgeeBE}}

In 2000, David Ebershoff wrote The Danish Girl, a fictionalized account of Elbe's life.{{Cite news |date=14 February 2000 |title=Books of the Times; Radical Change and Enduring Love |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2000/02/14/books/books-of-the-times-radical-change-and-enduring-love.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181225122154/https://www.nytimes.com/2000/02/14/books/books-of-the-times-radical-change-and-enduring-love.html |archive-date=25 December 2018 |access-date=11 December 2015 |work=The New York Times}} It was an international bestseller and translated into many languages. This novel provided one of the earliest fictional accounts of gender affirmation surgery, which shaped LGBTQ+ literature.{{Cite web |title=International Journal Of Arts, Humanities & Social Science |url=https://ijahss.net/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230326191825/https://ijahss.net/ |archive-date=26 March 2023 |access-date=2023-03-26 |website=ijahss.net |language=en}} In 2015, it was made into a film of the same name, produced by Gail Mutrux and Neil LaBute, starring Eddie Redmayne as Elbe. The film was well received at the Venice Film Festival in September 2015,{{Cite magazine |date=5 September 2015 |title=The Danish Girl Wows With 10-Minute Standing Ovation In Venice Premiere |url=https://deadline.com/2015/09/danish-girl-standing-ovation-venice-1201516383/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190415211139/https://deadline.com/2015/09/danish-girl-standing-ovation-venice-1201516383/ |archive-date=15 April 2019 |access-date=6 September 2015 |magazine=Deadline}} though it has been criticised for casting a cisgender man to play a transgender woman.{{Cite news |last=Denham |first=Jess |date=12 August 2015 |title=The Danish Girl: Eddie Redmayne Defends Casting as Trans Artist Lili Elbe After Backlash |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/news/the-danish-girl-eddie-redmayne-defends-casting-as-trans-artist-lili-elbe-and-reveals-how-much-he-10451250.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190512175739/https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/news/the-danish-girl-eddie-redmayne-defends-casting-as-trans-artist-lili-elbe-and-reveals-how-much-he-10451250.html |archive-date=12 May 2019 |access-date=7 March 2016 |work=The Independent}} Both the novel and film omitted several topics, including Gottlieb's sexuality, which is evidenced by the subjects in her erotic drawings,{{Cite news |date=3 August 2012 |title=The Incredibly True Adventures of Gerda Wegener and Lili Elbe |url=http://coilhouse.net/2012/08/the-incredibly-true-adventures-of-gerda-wegener-and-lili-elbe/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190511110339/http://coilhouse.net/2012/08/the-incredibly-true-adventures-of-gerda-wegener-and-lili-elbe/ |archive-date=11 May 2019 |access-date=26 January 2016 |work=coilhouse.net}} and the disintegration of Gottlieb and Elbe's relationship after their annulment.{{Cite news |title=Reading Group Notes The Danish Girl |url=https://www.allenandunwin.com/documents/reading-groups/145-the-danish-girl-reading-group-notes |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200524231820/https://www.allenandunwin.com/documents/reading-groups/145-the-danish-girl-reading-group-notes/file |archive-date=24 May 2020 |access-date=10 December 2015 |work=allenandunwin.com}}

Tobias Picker's opera Lili Elbe, featuring Lucia Lucas, premiered at Theater St. Gallen, Switzerland.{{Cite web |title=Lili Elbe |url=https://tobiaspicker.com/opera/lili-elbe |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221018054829/https://tobiaspicker.com/opera/lili-elbe |archive-date=18 October 2022 |access-date=January 11, 2022 |publisher=tobiaspicker.com}}{{Cite web |last=Charles Shafaieh |title=Living Authentically |url=https://operanews.com/Living_Authentically/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221018054824/https://operanews.com/Living_Authentically/ |archive-date=18 October 2022 |access-date=2022-09-11 |website=Opera News}}{{Cite web |title=Lili Elbe |url=https://tobiaspicker.com/opera/lili-elbe |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221018054829/https://tobiaspicker.com/opera/lili-elbe |archive-date=18 October 2022 |access-date=18 October 2022 |website=tobiaspicker.com}} Based on the life of Lili Elbe and the book Man into Woman: An Authentic Record of a Change of Sex,{{cite web| author=Worthen, Meredith| date=n.d.| url=http://www.biography.com/people/lili-elbe-090815| title=Lili Elbe – Painter| publisher=Biography.com| access-date=15 August 2016| archive-date=6 January 2019| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190106120952/https://www.biography.com/people/lili-elbe-090815| url-status=live}}{{Cite book|last=Elbe|first=Lili|title=Man Into Woman: A Comparative Scholarly Edition|publisher=Bloomsbury|year=2020|isbn=978-1-350-02149-5|editor1-last=Caughie|editor1-first=Pamela|editor1-link=Pamela L. Caughie|at=Introduction|editor2-last=Meyer|editor2-first=Sabine}} the opera premiered on 22 October 2023,{{Cite web|last=|first=|title=Lili Elbe: Oper von Tobias Picker und Aryeh Lev Stollman|url=https://konzertundtheater.ch/lili-elbe/|website=konzertundtheater.ch|date=July 10, 2023}} and received "Best World Premiere" in the 2023 Oper! Awards.

Publications

In 1931, Lili Elbe was living in Denmark collaborating with her friend, Ernst Harthern, on a memoir of her life. {{lang|da|Fra Mand til Kvinde}} was published by her German friend and editor under the name of Neils Hoyer following Elbe's death.{{Cite journal |last=Gailey |first=Nerissa |date=2017-10-15 |title=Strange Bedfellows: Anachronisms, Identity Politics, and the Queer Case of Trans* |url=https://doi.org/10.1080/00918369.2016.1265355 |url-status=live |journal=Journal of Homosexuality |volume=64 |issue=12 |pages=1713–1730 |doi=10.1080/00918369.2016.1265355 |issn=0091-8369 |pmid=27892825 |s2cid=11678847 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230702182919/https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00918369.2016.1265355 |archive-date=2 July 2023 |access-date=26 March 2023|url-access=subscription }} The narrative provided details of her life as Danish painter and her gender confirmation surgery. The possibility of Lili Elbe being intersex has been proposed due her reported possession of both male and female reproductive organs and the loss of medical records documenting her pre-surgical anatomy due to the Allied Bombing Raids. However, this theory has been disputed. The narrative was published four times, in three different languages over the course of two years. The UK and US versions, Man into Woman: An Authentic Record of a Change of Sex were both published in 1933.

Man into Woman: An authentic Record of a Change of Sex brought attention to new medical interventions as the story of Lili Elbe was circulated through American publications.{{Cite journal |last=Meyerowitz |first=Joanne |date=1998 |title=Sex Change and the Popular Press: Historical Notes on Transsexuality in the United States, 1930–1955 |journal=GLQ: A Journal of Lesbian and Gay Studies |volume=4 |issue=2 |pages=159–187 |doi=10.1215/10642684-4-2-159 |issn=1064-2684}} American publications, such as "A Man Becomes a Woman” and “When Science Changed a Man into a Woman”, published in the popular magazine, Sexology, associated the story of Lili Elbe with cases of intersex sex changes. These narratives promoted a binary view of gender, reinforcing gender stereotypes among Americans.

Lili Elbe and her memoir became well known in European media, publicized by Paul Weber.{{Cite journal |last=Sutton |first=Katie |date=May 2012 |title='We Too Deserve a Place in the Sun': The Politics of Transvestite Identity in Weimar Germany |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/23269669 |url-status=live |journal=German Studies Review |volume=35 |issue=2 |pages=335–354 |doi=10.1353/gsr.2012.a478043 |jstor=23269669 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230329104623/https://www.jstor.org/stable/23269669 |archive-date=29 March 2023 |access-date=26 March 2023 |url-access=subscription }} The story encouraged political action and brought awareness to the challenges faced by gender non-conforming people.

References

External links

[http://www.biography.com/people/lili-elbe-090815 Lili Elbe] on Biography.com
[https://web.archive.org/web/20150803154601/http://www.lgbthistorymonth.org.uk/history/lilielbe.htm Lili Elbe] on LGBT History Month
[https://lilielbe.org/ Lili Elbe Digital Archive]
[https://web.archive.org/web/20160123144038/http://www.arken.dk/udstilling/gerda-wegener/ Gerda Wegener exhibition] represented in ARKEN Museum of Modern Art's (November 2015–January 2017)

Category:1882 births

Category:1931 deaths

Category:20th-century Danish painters

Category:20th-century Danish LGBTQ people

Category:Danish landscape painters

Category:Danish erotic artists

Category:Danish LGBTQ artists

Category:Danish transgender women

Category:Transgender painters

Category:Transgender memoirists

Category:Transgender women artists

Category:People from Vejle Municipality