“Whatever you can invent, nature has created it”: it could be a mathematical formula, remembering what Albert Einstein said. But the reality is that in this case there is nothing that can be imagined, it is enough to unite a sense of beauty, almost mysterious, with the feminine soul. And for this reason, the result of the Pirelli Calendar 2026 is ultimately a return to essence, a revenge – as Marco Tronchetti Provera said at the launch of The Cal in Prague with a party at the Municipal House -, because in the years of (too) political correctness, the important point has been lost. In short, a Norwegian photographer was needed, born and raised where air, water, earth and fire are the building blocks of existence that hates excess, to revive sensuality. Sølve Sundsbø produced her Pirelli Elements by gathering the essence of 11 women defined as “mature, full of experience and depth” for 22 photos that turn the page on who we are today, or rather what we should strive for in the future. Sustainable, but without forgetting that technology can connect us to a new way of life. Even prettier.
Beautiful, this is what the Pirelli Calendar still maintains, which is now entering its 52nd edition. But this time by linking them to the four traditional elements, Sundsbø wanted to extract from his photographs “the emotions, the instincts, the states of mind that are important in human life: it’s an ambitious goal, and it’s not certain that I’ll succeed. But at least I want to try”. The images are certainly impactful, as are the protagonists chosen because “some of them I had wanted to photograph for a long time, others I thought about reinterpreting”. In short, it is desire, and nothing could be more natural. And in fact, they represent more than just faces: each one has something experienced that explodes in color and setting, part of the coming year and, it is said, also the future. At The Cal 2026 there are actresses Tilda Swindon, Isabella Rossellini, Luisa Ranieri, Gwendoline Chriestie, Du Juan and Adria Arjiona: models Eva Herzigova and Irina Shayk; stylist Susie Cave; singer FKA twigs; former tennis player Venus Williams. Put them all together as one element and you will understand why beauty is sometimes so elusive, and definitely instinctive too. Then the scenario: Cal was born in spring on the coast of Norfolk, in Holkam, where violence and natural charm managed to stop time. And then he continued his studies in London and New York, and what could be the opposite for understanding the summary of life. To win this challenge requires a compromise: “For example: how do you visualize the wind? It is something that is invisible, unless it touches something. Water, on the other hand, is an element that envelops, immerses or hits you. In practice, the work is to bring all this into a photograph to tell the story of the bond between humans and natural elements, between two different beauties that speak the same way.”
For this reason, Sundsbø also uses advanced technologies such as 3D systems or large LED panels, but in the end the result wants to look as realistic as possible: “Creating everything outdoors would be complicated, that’s why I chose a more manageable approach: of course we used real water, real wind, fire, but some details were taken outside to integrate them into the studio.
Making people feel good is a guarantee of good results”. Now all that remains is to see to believe, although beauty “is a form of genius: it is actually superior because it requires no explanation”. Oscar Wild said it, who knows what Calendario will do…
