Lili Elbe's 140th Birthday

Today’s Doodle celebrates the 140th birthday of Lili Elbe, a former Danish painter. She is considered one of the most significant painters of her time as well as an influential figure in the LGBTQ+ community as one of the first recipients of gender affirmation surgery. The Doodle artwork was illustrated by Amsterdam-based guest artist Hilde Sam Atalanta. 

On this day in 1882, Lili Elbe was born with the name Einar Magnus Andreas Wegener in Vejle, Denmark. As a teenager, she moved to Copenhagen and enrolled at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, where she met Gerda Gottlieb. The pair enjoyed painting together, fell in love, and married before Elbe transitioned. One day when Gottlieb’s model didn’t show up for a portrait, Elbe put on a dress and posed for her wife instead. Elbe said she was surprisingly comfortable wearing the dress and stockings and began questioning her gender identity. Through these experiences, she began to envision living life as a woman, and she began living authentically as herself with the name Lili. 

In 1912, the couple moved from Copenhagen to Paris, where Lili could live as her true self with less criticism. Elbe learned about the possibility of gender-affirming surgery in the 1920s when the process was highly unknown and experimental. While risky, Elbe knew she wanted her body to match her gender identity and received a series of surgeries in Germany. The procedures allowed her to be legally recognized as a woman and she was granted a passport with her name. She chose the last name Elbe after the river flowing through Dresden—where she got the surgeries and was affirmed as a woman. At the time, the law did not recognize marriages between women, so the pair divorced amicably. 

Elbe remarried and had hopes of becoming a biological mother, so she sought a uterus transplant procedure. Sadly, she never achieved her dream of motherhood as she died soon after the surgery from her body rejecting the organ.

Her legacy lives on through the two books about her life and through the LGBTQ+ film festival MIX Copenhagen, which presents Lili awards to the winner of Best Feature, Best Documentary and Best Short Film. Man into Woman is adapted directly from her diaries and became one of the first widely published books about a transgender person’s life, while The Danish Girl is a fictional book and film inspired by her life. 

Happy birthday, Lili Elbe!

Q&A with guest artist Hilde Sam Atalanta 

Today’s Doodle was illustrated by Amsterdam-based guest artist Hilde Sam Atalanta. Below, they share their thoughts behind the making of this Doodle:
 

Q. Why was this topic meaningful to you personally?

A: Being invited to create this portrait of Lili Elbe meant a lot to me as we share similarities: both Lili and I are painters, and we are both trans individuals. During my process of researching Lili's life for the portrait, I read her letters and I could relate to her feelings: her hope to be seen as she is, her hope for positive change. It was a meaningful experience to realize that even though we are a century apart in time, we are connected in many ways. I'm very happy that I was able to give Lili the positive representation she deserved. 

Q. What were your first thoughts when you were approached about working on this Doodle?

A: I was very excited and happy to be able to portray Lili. Oftentimes, when trans individuals are being portrayed by popular media, the struggles and stigma around trans experiences are being emphasized. Being able to portray Lili felt like such a beautiful opportunity to honour her and put her in the spotlight in a way that celebrates her identity; in a way that she deserves to be seen. 

Q. Did you draw inspiration from anything in particular for this Doodle? 

A: For this portrait I drew inspiration from the art deco era Lili lived in. I did research about Lili's life, and in which ways art and design influenced the world around her. Lili's wife, Gerda, was a painter herself, and at a certain point during their relationship she started to paint Lili – which I wanted to bring out in this portrait too. Lili, posing, in her most elegant way, as seen by her wife Gerda. A loving and empowering dynamic.

Q. What message do you hope people take away from your Doodle?

A: With this portrait of Lili I want to show the beauty, resilience, strength, and inspiration that makes trans individuals so wonderful. It is so important that trans individuals are being uplifted and positively represented in mainstream media. We need representation of our deep love, our sense of community, our tenderness, our strength. Our resilience, our empathy, our growth. We need to be able to tell our own stories with our own voices. To be able to create this portrait of Lili felt like a wonderful and meaningful way of honouring her.