Ovartaci was the artistic name of the self-taught Danish visual artist Louis Marcussen (1894 – 1985) who was assigned male at birth but lived as both a man and a woman during their lifetime. Ovartaci apprenticed as a house painter and decorator before emigrating to Argentina in 1923. They travelled the country for six years before returning home in a frayed state. Upon their return, Ovartaci’s family admitted them to the psychiatric hospital in Risskov, where they lived and worked for the next 56 years. The artist took the name ‘Ovartaci’ – translated loosely as ‘Chief Lunatic’. Over several years, Ovartaci made repeated requests for a sex change surgery and even attempted to hack off their male member themself. Finally, in 1957, the hospital facilitated their female gender affirmation surgery. In 1975, Ovartaci decided not to identify as a woman and started identifying as a man until the artist’s death in 1985. In 1979, the artist was invited to contribute to the exhibition ‘Outsiders’ at the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art in Humlebæk, Denmark. In 1980, the artist’s works were featured in a solo exhibition in Aarhus, Denmark. In 2018, an expansive exhibition entitled ‘Ovartaci and the Art of Madness’ included a survey of the artist's work, as well as homages and related works by contemporary artists. Ovartaci’s art can be seen at Museum Ovartaci in Aarhus, Denmark, a museum named after the artist showcasing artwork created at the psychiatric hospital in Risskov, Denmark. In 2022, a monograph on Ovartaci's life, work and production was released: Ovartaci: The Signature of Madness, and their work featured in the Venice Biennale in the Central Pavilion in ‘The Milk of Dreams’ curated by Cecilia Alemani. Please note that the Museum Ovartaci AARHUS/DK refers to Ovartaci using the pronouns he/him but does not disregard other approaches.