Asta Nielsen, the legendary superstar of the European silent cinema, was born in Copenhagen in 1883. Making her stage-debut at 18 in 1901, she was discovered by the director August Blom. Asta Nielsen appeared in several Danish films. In 1911 she went to Germany where she became a leading star. She was considered one of the most enchanting women of her day, a pallid beauty with blazing dark eyes and was widely admired as a trendsetter in fashions. Two year before her death at 89, she married for the third time to a Copenhagen art dealer. Asta Nielsen was painted by the famous painter Pyke Koch in 1929 (exhibition catalogue Pyke Koch, het Gemeentemuseum, Arnhem, 11 December 1982 - 16 January 1983, page 31., no 4, with illustration on page 33)