Lili Ilse Elvenes ” Einar Magnus Andreas Wegener” or “Lili Elbe” was born on 28 December 1882. Lili was better known as a Danish painter and transgender woman and among the early recipients of sex reassignment surgery.
Lili Elbe met fellow artist Wegener at the age of 18 years. Lili and Wegener married in 1904. Gerda Marie Fredrikke Wegener, a Danish illustrator and painter was born on March 15, 1886, in Hammelev, Denmark. Wegener was born to Justine and Emil Gottlieb, a vicar in the Lutheran church.
What happened to Gerda after Lily’s death?
Lili Elbe died on 13 September 1931. Elbe’s immune system rejected the transplanted uterus, and the operation and a subsequent surgical revision caused the infection. This led to her death from cardiac arrest, three months after the surgery.
Just after Lili died In 1931, Wegener married Italian officer, aviator, and diplomat Major Fernando Porta and moved with him to Morocco.
Their marriage wasn’t successful as the couple divorced him in 1936 and Wegener returned to Denmark in 1938 for complicated reasons.
Wegener lived alone in relative obscurity and began to drink heavily. She suffered a lot of financial instability and kept an income by selling hand-painted postcards