I live in Brasil and recently had to do a presentation in my Portuguese class. The assignment was to create an argument that would convince the rest of the class that my side was best. Since I’m an artist, I chose a topic regarding why art motivates and can help You make better financial decisions.
There is a lot of research out there that shows why art is good for you, and it isn’t just because it’s beautiful or anything like that. It’s because art sends messages to our subconscious that cause us to react.
But it isn’t just prints or photos either. According to a study by the Emory University School of Medicine in 2010, when people see original art they are more likely to activate the brain’s “reward system” than if they looked at photos of similar objects in the paintings. The author, Traci Pedersen, suggests that this reward behavior is likely to help us make better decisions with regards to finance and appetite.
The subjects in the study were shown paintings and then shown photos of similar objects that the paintings had. It was found that more parts of the brain were activated when the subjects viewed the original art than when the subjects viewed photos. This is different from other studies that focused on beauty or attempts to define art. Instead, the focus was on the same subject simply presented in different ways.
So what’s the benefit here? Buy original art maybe you’ll be thinner, make more money, be better motivated, and make fewer impulsive decisions. Art motivates, and that’s something we could all use in our lives.