Gerda Wegener (b. Hammelev 1886, d. Frederiksberg 1940) Portrait of Lili in a red dress. Signed Gerda Wegener Roma, 1929. Watercolour and charcoal on paper. Sheet size 63×48 cm. Exhibited: “Gerda Wegener”, ARKEN, Ishøj, 2015–17, cat. no. 125. Provenance: The collection of Anne Ammitzbøll, Hellerup, Denmark. In the late 1920s, Gerda Wegener takes Lili to Rome for her to recuperate in new surroundings. She is depressed; trapped in a body that does not belong to her. Lili is portrayed in this distraught state; her eyes are dark and wistful, with one hand pressed expressively towards her heart. When the couple turns to the German gynaecologist Kurt Warnekros for help the following year, there is no turning back, and a sex change operation – however dangerous it might have been at the time – is the only viable solution. “His legacy? Einar Wegener is not dead then? No, he is not, but he no longer exists either. He has voluntarily eradicated himself to make way for someone else, who he believed had a greater right to exist than himself, and this other – it is me...” (“Et Liv gennem to Tilværelser” (A Life Through Two Existences), interview with Lili published in Politiken, 28 February, 1931). Condition Condition report available on request. Request condition report
Condition
Gerda Wegener (b. Hammelev 1886, d. Frederiksberg 1940) Portrait of Lili in a red dress. Signed Gerda Wegener Roma, 1929. Watercolour and charcoal on paper. Sheet size 63×48 cm. Exhibited: “Gerda Wegener”, ARKEN, Ishøj, 2015–17, cat. no. 125. Provenance: The collection of Anne Ammitzbøll, Hellerup, Denmark. In the late 1920s, Gerda Wegener takes Lili to Rome for her to recuperate in new surroundings. She is depressed; trapped in a body that does not belong to her. Lili is portrayed in this distraught state; her eyes are dark and wistful, with one hand pressed expressively towards her heart. When the couple turns to the German gynaecologist Kurt Warnekros for help the following year, there is no turning back, and a sex change operation – however dangerous it might have been at the time – is the only viable solution. “His legacy? Einar Wegener is not dead then? No, he is not, but he no longer exists either. He has voluntarily eradicated himself to make way for someone else, who he believed had a greater right to exist than himself, and this other – it is me...” (“Et Liv gennem to Tilværelser” (A Life Through Two Existences), interview with Lili published in Politiken, 28 February, 1931). Condition Condition report available on request. Request condition report
Condition
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.jpg "Source: Christie's")
.jpg "Source: Christie's")
