ESE by Sossio
Art as Inner Education
A dedicated collection by Sossio at the European School of Economics — bringing original art into the spaces where students learn, think and decide.
At the European School of Economics, the walls have started to teach. A dedicated collection of works by Sossio now lives inside the school, not as decoration but as part of the learning environment: a quiet presence that supports the calm, clarity and focus that learning needs.
Art, an inner school for the economy of the future
Founded and led by Elio D’Anna, the European School of Economics counts the meeting of cultures and the union of art and business among its core pillars. The school believes art will shape the economy of the future, and that a company’s worth is measured by more than profit.
Sossio’s work answers that philosophy from the other side of the canvas. His movement, Self Transformism, describes an individual revolution in which each person creates their own reality from within — the same conviction at the heart of D’Anna’s Inner Economy.
“Every true transformation begins within.”
Why art belongs where people learn
Space shapes learning
In the University of Salford’s study of 3,766 primary pupils, the physical features of the 153 classrooms explained 16% of the variation in progress made over a year. Light and colour were among the seven design factors that mattered.
Original art lowers stress
In a King’s College London study of 50 healthy adults aged 18 to 40, mostly from universities, cortisol, the stress hormone, fell by about 22% in those who viewed original paintings at The Courtauld Gallery, and by 8% in those who viewed reproductions in a laboratory.
Curation, not clutter
In a Carnegie Mellon study, 24 kindergarten children scored 55% on tests after lessons in a sparse classroom, against 42% in the same room heavily decorated. Hence restraint: a few chosen works, placed with intent, rather than walls that compete for attention.
Wellbeing in education
Being well, learning well
The World Health Organization defines mental health as a state of mental wellbeing that enables people, among other things, to “learn and work well”. Learning is part of the definition. The need is real: in a survey of nearly 5,000 first-year students at KU Leuven in Belgium, carried out within an international WHO project, about one in three reported mental health problems in the past year. What follows sets out the evidence, link by link, and its limits: from looking at art to wellbeing, and from wellbeing to study.1, 2
What looking can do
In a preregistered experiment, 342 undergraduates at a Canadian university were randomly assigned to a neutral task, to that task broken by two short comedy videos, or to one twenty-minute visit to an exhibition of abstract, intensely coloured glass at the Royal Ontario Museum. The art group reported more wellbeing and awe than both others, and less stress than the neutral group. A 2025 systematic review of 38 papers on viewing art found its strongest evidence for the wellbeing tied to meaning and personal growth.3, 4
The mind that learns
Stress is not always the enemy of memory: just after learning, it can even strengthen what was learnt. But at the moment of recall, which is what exams ask for, it gets in the way: across 31 laboratory studies with 1,410 participants, the effect was small but consistent. Emotion shapes attention too. In two experiments with 104 university students, short film clips that brought on positive feelings widened the scope of attention and the range of thought and action, compared with a neutral film; negative ones narrowed that range.5, 6
The experience of study
Across 47 studies and nearly 39,000 students, wellbeing and achievement went together: a small-to-medium link that varied from study to study, about as strong at university as at secondary school. The Leuven survey points the same way: first-year students who reported mental health problems had lower results, equivalent to a grade point average 0.2 to 0.3 lower. These are associations, not proof of cause. What they show is that being well and doing well in one’s studies tend to travel together.2, 7
All this has a name: welfare culturale (cultural welfare), the arts and heritage in the service of health and wellbeing. In a 2025 resolution, Tuscany’s Regional Council named it one of three key themes deserving particular attention and committed the regional government to developing it. In a place of study it can begin with the walls: original art, chosen with intent and hung where students and teachers spend their days.8
Sources
- 1World Health Organization, “Mental health: strengthening our response”, fact sheet (accessed 30 October 2026) (opens in a new window)
- 2Bruffaerts R., Mortier P., Kiekens G. et al. (2018), “Mental health problems in college freshmen: prevalence and academic functioning”, Journal of Affective Disorders 225, 97–103 (opens in a new window)
- 3Stellar J. E., Priewe S., Lidhar N. K., Martin L. (2026), “Viewing art as a pathway to psychological well-being and physical health”, Applied Psychology: Health and Well-Being 18(1), e70131 (opens in a new window)
- 4Trupp M. D., Howlin C., Fekete A., Kutsche J., Fingerhut J., Pelowski M. (2025), “The impact of viewing art on well-being: a systematic review of the evidence base and suggested mechanisms”, The Journal of Positive Psychology 20(6), 978–1002 (opens in a new window)
- 5Shields G. S., Sazma M. A., McCullough A. M., Yonelinas A. P. (2017), “The effects of acute stress on episodic memory: a meta-analysis and integrative review”, Psychological Bulletin 143(6), 636–675 (opens in a new window)
- 6Fredrickson B. L., Branigan C. (2005), “Positive emotions broaden the scope of attention and thought-action repertoires”, Cognition and Emotion 19(3), 313–332 (opens in a new window)
- 7Bücker S., Nuraydin S., Simonsmeier B. A., Schneider M., Luhmann M. (2018), “Subjective well-being and academic achievement: a meta-analysis”, Journal of Research in Personality 74, 83–94 (opens in a new window)
- 8Consiglio regionale della Toscana (2025), Resolution no. 425, “Facciamo contare la cultura. Politiche per una Toscana contemporanea creativa”, approved on 30 July 2025 (opens in a new window)
Calm, clarity, focus
Sossio’s abstract canvases carry no story to decode and no figures to follow. Their fields of colour and material ask nothing specific of the viewer. For a student between lectures, they offer a moment of rest rather than another demand on attention — and, for those who stop to look, a moment of reflection.
Towards cultural welfare in education
We invite universities that see beauty as part of an education to talk with us about original art where people study: a daily presence that accompanies the attention, calm and reflection of those who learn there and those who teach.
Make an enquiry