Art review: The history of breast cancer as seen through the eyes of the artist

Michael Baum
Part of the "Healing Arts" seminars running at University College London

It has been said that art thrives in adversity and if that is true, then Professor Michael Baum is doubly equipped to rise to the challenge that breast cancer bestows upon a patient, being both a surgeon and a practising artist.

Bridging the two cultures of science and the humanities, Professor Baum found astonishingly detailed images of women who had been disfigured by breast cancer and who had their disease captured by the brushes of artists. Also using detailed medical illustrations selected from the last two centuries that demonstrate the various theories of the causes of breast cancer, Professor Baum showed how the artists' impressions reflected the medical techniques that were in vogue at the time for treating the clinical signs. The pictures captured the puckered "peau d'orange" and "cold tumours" with a naive honesty, allowing Professor Baum's trained clinical eye to decipher how the condition was diagnosed and treated at the time. Having established the breast as an organ of female sexuality and identity, Professor Baum reflected on the emotions and medical observations that were inherent in the work of Old Masters such as Rembrandt through to the detailed work of modern artists such as Thomas Eakins. The threat to life and the disfigurement anticipated by these patients was universal and timeless.

The illustrated talk, juxtaposing art and medical history, created a new perspective on the understanding of breast cancer. This was more than an illustration of the evolution of modern breast cancer therapy but a new thesis that displayed patients' suffering-something that words cannot describe.

The story of one heroine was captured in a number of paintings in the prophetic story of Saint Agatha, the patron saint of the breast. She was martyred by bilateral breast amputation and thrown into a dungeon where Saint Peter visited her and healed her wounds. Remarkably, the incision in the paintings looked just like the incision used in modern mastectomies.

Having illustrated that art and medicine can effectively communicate complex issues to the public, Professor Baum reminded the audience that science, not art, led to the real fall in mortality that has been seen in patients with breast cancer since 1985. Art and the humanities have played a crucial but separate role in enabling the shift in perception of this disease that has enabled medical practitioners and the public at large to embrace the new treatments available and rehabilitate the survivors.

Rachel Armstrong, medical writer
Email: scifi@dircon.co.uk


studentBMJ 2000;08:259-302 August ISSN 0966-6494