FEBRUARY, OFF THE SLOPES
I’ve never been a skier. I admire the elegance, the speed, but I’ve long accepted that my winter excitement lives elsewhere. While the slopes are in full swing, something else quietly takes over the village: art. Gallery doors open, exhibitions overlap, conversations stretch longer, and suddenly Gstaad feels less like a resort and more like a cultural crossroads. Add ART GSTAAD to the mix, and February becomes a month I actively look forward to every year.

Art matters because it tells us where we come from, and just as importantly, where we are right now. It captures history as it was lived, not just as it was recorded. Contemporary art, in particular, acts as a mirror: sometimes flattering, sometimes uncomfortable. It reflects our values, our anxieties, our obsessions and occasionally our sense of humour.

Gstaad’s art scene has grown into something quietly confident. Very on brand, it is not loud. It doesn’t compete with the obvious heavyweights, and that’s precisely its charm. Some exhibitions are so discreet you might miss them unless you’re in the know. An invitation circulates quietly, a door opens without signage, and suddenly you find yourself standing in front of something unexpected.
A little like the best dinner parties in Gstaad: not announced, not advertised, but all the more memorable for it.

What this scene offers is intimacy, quality, and above all, time. Time to look, to think, to talk. In a place often associated with performance and polished routines, art does something quietly radical: it asks us to slow down.

That contrast is what I love most about art in winter. Outside, the rhythm is familiar: snow, schedules, rituals. Inside the galleries, perspectives shift. You step in from the cold and into conversations, ideas and worlds that linger far longer than a day on the slopes.

So while February may be peak season for some, for me it’s peak curiosity. A month of exhibitions, encounters and ideas its proof that winter in Gstaad isn’t only about what happens on the slopes, but also about what happens in our minds.

And that, to me, is reason enough to love February.

Jeanette Wichmann
Editor in Chief