The best thing to come out of Davos

Another new year and once again the world’s leading CEOs and politicians descend on Davos, transforming this little Alpine town into the world’s most (self-) important talking shop. Yet there’s another side to Davos that’s far more interesting than dry geopolitical debate. Long before it became a stage for the World Economic Forum, this quiet corner of the Swiss Alps was the home of one of the most brilliant figures in modern art. Ernst Ludwig Kirchner spent his last 20 years in Davos. The town features in many of his finest paintings. It’s the only place with a museum devoted to his work. The Kirchner Museum in Davos is a striking piece of modern architecture, a Rubik’s Cube of glass and concrete bathed in natural light. The setting is spectacular, framed by a ring of snowcapped peaks, but the best thing is its contents, the world’s biggest Kirchner collection, about 3,000 works, including numerous paintings of Davos and the mountains that encircle it.