Gerda Wegener was a Danish painter best known for her progressive feminist portraits. Steeped in Art Deco aesthetics, her paintings were considered radical for their engagement with gender, identity, and sexuality. Reversing the traditional art history model of the male gaze, Wegener gazes upon women with a different eroticism and admiration for her female subjects, whom she depicted as powerful individuals.
Born Gerda Marie Fredrikke Gottlieb on March 15, 1886 in Hammelev, Denmark, she moved to Copenhagen to attend the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts. While attending school, she met her future husband and muse Einar Wegener, who would later transition genders to become Lili Elbe. The couple married in 1904 and settled in Paris in 1912. Wegener’s portraits of Elbe brought her acclaim, as did her erotic illustrations and glass mosaics for Parisian patrons. She went on to win two gold medals and one bronze for her work at the World’s Fair in 1925.
After Elbe’s death in 1931, however she struggled to support herself and moved back to Denmark. The artist died on July 28, 1940 in Frederiksberg, Denmark at the age of 54.
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