The Google Doodle for today celebrates Lili Elbe’s 140th birthday, but who is she and why is she important in history?
Google Doodles are short-lived variations of the iconic logo created to honor notable historical individuals, holidays, and scientific achievements. The current iteration has taken a break from its merry holiday artwork to honor Danish artist and transgender person Lili Elbe.
Get to Know Lili Elbe, the Face of Today’s Google Doodle
Lili, who was born on December 28th, 1882, was a prominent member of the LGBTQ+ community since she underwent sex reassignment surgery early on. Einar Magnus Andreas Wegener was her deceased name.
Lili, who painted under the name Wegener, had her training at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts in Copenhagen. She met her future wife Gerda Gottlieb there. When Lili was 22 and Gottlieb was 19, they fell in love and were married in 1905.
After dressing as a woman, complete with stockings and high heels, to stand in for Gottlieb’s model, the painter discovered who she really was. The pair moved to Paris so that Lili could live openly as a woman, albeit as Gerda’s sister.
The Vejle, Denmark native underwent gender-affirming surgery in Germany in 1930 to complete their change. She had been born in 1947. Lili wanted her body to match her identity even though the surgery was very experimental and unheard of at the time. Over the course of two years, she had four procedures.
Testicles were removed first, then ovarian implants were made, and finally, the penis and scrotum were removed in a subsequent operation.
Her fourth and last surgery, to transplant a uterus and create a vaginal canal, took place in 1931. She was now Dr. Erwin Gohrbrandt’s second trans lady to get a vaginoplasty; he had already done one on his first patient a few weeks earlier.
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Lili Ilse Elvenes became her new official name.
Lili suddenly away on September 13, 1931, at the age of 48, as a result of complications from the womb transplant procedure. It happened as a result of cardiac arrest three months following the procedure.
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Lili Elbe’s Life Was Created Into an Oscar-Nominated Film
Because Eddy Redmayne played the painter in the Oscar-nominated movie The Danish Girl, Elbe’s life may sound familiar.
The 2015 romance drama was partially based on the courtship and gender reassignment procedures of Elbe and Gottlieb. Gottlieb was portrayed by Alicia Vikander, who received the best-supporting actress Oscar for the role
