Lili Elbe in fine arts

Today is a special day - I finally stumbled upon beautiful and magnetizing works of the second transgender artist in the world history - Lili Elbe.

Lili is the second name of this artist, the initial name was Einar Magnus Andreas Wegener.


Elbe's approach to aesthetics is close to postimpressionism. The nature which is depicted in these works in overwhelming, inspiring, mysterious.

One more genre of Lili's works is urban art, and here artistic detail prevails, and behind every corner the recipient can see miracles. A fascinating game of light and darkness is something luxurious, incredibly deep and elegantly alluring.
Lili's feeling of colour is second to none, and the imagery is also quite meaningful.

I would like to pinpoint the fact that Lili's work in art was time-consuming and extensive. It took some time and effort for the artist to reveal the solemn beauty of Versailles, to cast light upon  the flourishing Capri or to create a vivid post-impressionist view of female charm and grace.

Elbe's art works are immersive, vibrating with colours and light, they are built on a great command of composition and contrast, they contain allusions to myths and classical literary works, and their tone ranges from ceremonial pathos to social burlesque.

Elbe's input into the world of visual arts is original, compelling, timeless and interdisciplinarily valuable. This artist discovered new approaches to space, light, shadows, naturalistic landscape, portrait and urban landscape creation.

© Maryna Tchianova


Illustration: “lili in paris”, a portrait of lili elbe by her wife, gerda wegener, 1920 (taken from Pinterest)