Understanding how obesity has been portrayed in art across the ages can make doctors more empathic and less judgmental, which should lead to their patients achieving better outcomes, new reasearch at this year's European Congress on Obesity (ECO 2026) argues.
Michael Yafi, a paediatric endocrinologist at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UT Health), Texas, USA, also speculates that "GLP-1 face", the gaunt look that can occur when losing large amounts of weight rapidly on GLP-1 drugs, will feature in the art of the future.
Dr Yafi uses examples of artwork from across the centuries to illustrate how obesity was seen as a sign of prosperity, wealth, high social status and physical strength until relatively recently.
"Corpulence was long a sign of prosperity, wealth, high social status and physical strength," he explains. "Men with obesity were portrayed as heroes, leaders, royals and nobles and women with excess body fat were symbols of beauty, fertility and prosperity."
One of the earliest examples of this is the Venus of Willendorf, a stone figurine that is thought to be 24,000 to 32,000 years old. It shows a woman with excess body fat and hips, breasts and other reproductive features have been exaggerated in size, says Dr Yafi.
Further examples can be seen in religious art from the Middle Ages, where children and angels were portrayed as having folds of skin and excess body fat.
"Obesity was a symbol of power, too," says Dr Yafi. "We know from research from Turkey that 29 of the 36 Ottoman emperors who lived between 1258 and 1926 were depicted as having abdominal obesity or reported to have obesity."
The composers Bach and Handel were also portrayed as having excess body fat. "Both Bach and Handel's vision deteriorated as they got older and many people think that was caused by type 2 diabetes," says Dr Yafi.
And for centuries, artists such as Rubens and Renoir were inspired by women with excess body fat.
What of the Mona Lisa? Dr Yafi says: "Lisa Gherardini, the woman with the enigmatic smile in Leonardo da Vinci's iconic painting, is shown with excessive body fat. It's been speculated that she had lipid metabolism disorder, meaning she couldn't break down fat properly, but a simpler explanation is that she had put on weight in pregnancy. After all, she'd had four children by this time."
The depiction of obesity only changed in second half of the last century, when doctors discovered the link between diets rich in saturated fat and obesity and metabolic and cardiovascular disease, says Dr Yafi.
"This led to images of thin, often unrealistically thin, men and women being glorified and obesity being stigmatised," he explains. "Suddenly, thin people became beautiful and the women who inspired artists for centuries were no longer considered attractive."
Today, GLP-1 drugs are allowing people to lose large amounts of weight. For some, this has had led to "GLP-1 face", in which the rapid loss of fat from the cheeks, temples and under the eyes makes wrinkles appear more prominent, skin look loose and eyes seem sunken.
"People are talking about this effect, plastic surgeons are documenting it and I think that as more people use these drugs, GLP-1 face will be depicted in art," says Dr Yafi. "I am sure that if Picasso had been alive today, he would have painted it."
Dr Yafi, a former concert pianist with a long-standing interest in art, argues that making the connections between medicine and art in this way can help doctors better understand obesity.
"If physicians see that obesity was for centuries viewed as a positive thing, it will help them be non-judgmental and more empathic," he says. "This, in turn, should allow them treat patients more holistically and so lead to the patients achieving better results."
