About

"Biceps or Abs?" "Emotional Intelligence" is an exploitable classical art meme format based on an edit of the 19th-century painting Spring (At the Fence) by Czech painter Vojtech Adalbert Bartonek, in which a man leaning against a fence asks a woman, "Biceps or abs?" and she answers, "Emotional intelligence." The original meme was uploaded by Instagram user kris_the_lioness in July 2025. It spread on social media over the following months, inspiring similar memes and edits that replace the contents of the woman's speech bubble with something else that women perceive as desirable in a man.

Origin

On July 1st, 2025, Instagram^[1] user kris_the_lioness posted an edit of the painting Spring (At the Fence) by Vojtech Adalbert Bartonek^[2] in which speech bubbles have been added to each character. The man asks, "Biceps or abs?" The woman responds, "Emotional intelligence." The post gained over 286,000 likes in four months. Additionally, the user included alternate versions of the memes using similar captions and paintings.

Spread

The meme began spreading over the following months. On July 6th, 2025, it was posted to the /r/im14andthisisdeep^[3] subreddit with the title, "What muscle is that?" garnering over 140 upvotes in four months.

On September 28th, Instagram^[4] user lifeonsweetlyfarm posted similar memes using another piece of art, garnering over 122,000 likes in two months.

On November 15th, 2025, X^[5] user @cdoll reposted the original meme, garnering over 178,000 likes and 41,000 reposts in five days. The repost inspired edits in the following days.

For example, on November 16th, X^[6] user @chosoackerman posted a version referencing Attack on Titan character Levi Ackerman, garnering over 2,000 likes in four days.

On November 17th, the @females Instagram^[7] page reposted the original meme, garnering over 17,000 likes in three days.

On November 18th, 2025, X^[8] user @IncelsCo posted a version of the meme replacing the woman's speech bubble with, "Face and height," garnering over 5,000 likes in two days.

On November 19th, X^[9] user @FaustianPervert quoted the original post, writing, "I find it so cute how women constantly talk about wanting Emotional intelligence in their boyfriends because they themselves don't have any," garnering over 14,000 likes in a day.

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References