Monocle 24 checks in on Switzerland’s plans to further ease coronavirus restrictions and ask whether the country is setting an example that others should follow.Plus: the weekend’s newspapers and top stories. From Milan: Salone highlights, interviews and a daily running guide.
From Christie’s article (April 22, 2020):
From Switzerland to South America, from the South of England to the coast of Maine, they have been moved by mountains, oceans, deserts, plains, lakes and forests — we hope you will find their art every bit as stirring as we do
Siverskaya, located 70km south of St Petersburg, was a popular summer retreat for Russian city-dwellers in the 19th century. It was in Siverskaya and its neighbouring woods that Ivan Shishkin — one of Russia’s most famous landscape painters, dubbed ‘the patriarch of forests’ — created some of his best-known works.
Mount Emei in Sichuan, southwest China, is the highest of China’s four sacred Buddhist mountains, reaching to 3,099 metres. The mountain is a place of pilgrimage, where dozens of temples and monasteries have been erected, and has been an inspiration for artists for centuries.
Wednesday 22 April, 2020 marks 50 years since the declaration of the first Earth Day in 1970 — an occasion on which to reflect on our natural world, and perhaps take action to help sustain it. In celebration of this anniversary, we look back on a selection of artists for whom nature — and our planet — has been an inspiration and guide.
Nordic citizens experience a high sense of autonomy and freedom, as well as high levels of social trust towards each other, which play an important role in determining life satisfaction.
From 2013 until today, every time the World Happiness Report (WHR) has published its annual ranking of countries, the five Nordic countries – Finland, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, and Iceland – have all been in the top ten, with Nordic countries occupying the top three spots in 2017, 2018, and 2019. Clearly, when it comes to the level of average life evaluations, the Nordic states are doing something right, but Nordic exceptionalism isn’t confined to citizen’s happiness.
No matter whether we look at the state of democracy and political rights, lack of corruption, trust between citizens, felt safety, social cohesion, gender equality, equal distribution of incomes, Human Development Index, or many other global comparisons, one tends to find the Nordic countries in the global top spots.
For more than two decades, legendary British photographer David Yarrow has been putting himself in harm’s way to capture immersive photography of the world’s most revered and endangered species.
Featuring a selection of Yarrow’s most iconic photographs, ‘Living On Earth’ highlights the beauty of the endangered planet and the art of narrative as conveyed by one of the most relevant fine art photographers in the world.
David Yarrow’s commitment to ‘capturing the splendour of what remains wild and free in our world’ allowed him to transcend wildlife photography and become one of the world’s leading fine art photographers. He has travelled pole to pole, to the world’s most remote habitats to allow us a glimpse of the truly untamed. The resulting images are unerringly iconic and connect with us on a primal level; of curiosity, desire, and fear.
AT THE WORLD EC ONOMIC FORUM, which celebrates its 50th anniversary, The Economist’s editor-in-chief Zanny Minton Beddoes, Anne McElvoy and Patrick Foulis debate the future of the annual alpine gathering.
How did a young academic’s pet project come to be seen as the ultimate A-list bash for global CEOs, political leaders and celebrities alike? Anne McElvoy speaks to the CEO of Youtube, Susan Wojcicki, actress and activist Priyanka Chopra Jonas and Natalia Vodianova, a supermodel and philanthropist, about what they achieve at Davos and the mission behind the glamour. Is it a forum for effective decision-making—or just a week in the snow for the global elite? And finally, snow boots or stilettos?
Runtime: 32 min
St. Moritz also takes readers on a majestic tour of its special events, from Winter Olympics to the annual Snow Polo World Cup, as well as the summertime Jazz Festival and the British Classic Car Meeting. In St. Moritz creatives and royals share skiwassers slope-side on the sheepskin benches of El Paradiso, pause to sip champagne on long strolls around its frozen, crystalline lake and enjoy coffee and confections at the centuries old Hanselmann. St. Moritz has never lost its inimitable appeal, and will continue to reign as an elegant hideaway for all those who have come to call it a home away from home.
Nestled in Switzerland’s alpine Engadin Valley, St. Moritz stands on its own amidst a sea of celebrated ski resorts in that it has long maintained an elusive allure. The winter home of personalities from Gunter Sachs and Gianni Agnelli to Sofia Loren, Elizabeth Taylor, Audrey Hepburn, John Lennon, and Claudia Schiffer, there are few places in the world that manage to unite so many of the top names in cinema, art, and fashion all in one place, year after year. Author Dora Lardelli takes the reader on a journey through Chanel and Hitchcock’s favorite haunts and the hidden parties at Badrutt’s Palace where royalty goes to play, without forgetting the natural beauty, village charm and architectural mastery that define it.
111 Years of Waldhaus Sils ranges across the hotel’s life and history. Founders Josef and Amalie Giger and their descendants, by now in the fifth generation, have guided the “house in the woods” with skill and fortitude through good times and bad through the twentieth century and into the present. The owners and their exceptionally diverse guests—lively families side-by-side with intellectuals and artists of world renown—have created a unique blend of luxury and modesty, historic grandeur and playful fun, smooth professionalism and unexpected idiosyncrasies.
Those in the know are aware that Wes Anderson’s Grand Budapest Hotel has a real-life counterpart in the Swiss Alps: The Waldhaus Sils, which has pleased and puzzled visitors for 111 years and become an icon of Swiss hospitality. Located above the small village of Sils Maria near St. Moritz, it overlooks a striking landscape of forests, lakes and mountains and offers a combination of Belle Epoque flair and modern comfort. Its distinctive charm comes from the fact that the Waldhaus has been family-owned and operated since its grand opening on June 15, 1908.
From a Health Care Cost Institute (HCCI) release (12/17/19):
Boomers Daily 