Portrait of Angela Merkel Unveiled for the Chancellery Gallery in Berlin

Standing Pose and Blue Blazer

The painting also features striking lighting: strong light falls on the face, highlighting what are known as the „Spuren der Macht". Queyras explained, according to Die Zeit, that his goal had been to paint Merkel in such a way that she is immediately recognizable and that a new side of her becomes visible at the same time.

The decision on the artist was made comparatively late. As Die Zeit writes, Queyras had already informally applied to Merkel in 2022 to be allowed to paint the portrait. It was not until June 2025, after an initial personal meeting, that she decided on the painter. Merkel herself explained at the unveiling that she had initially needed distance: „Ich brauchte Abstand".

Long Search for the Right Painter

Since the summer of last year, Queyras met repeatedly with the former chancellor to portray her in a studio specially set up in Berlin-Mitte. For the commission, the artist, who had previously been considered relatively unknown, moved to Berlin specifically for the task. Merkel sat for him over a period of months, Die Zeit reports.

Queyras grew up in Freiburg and studied art in London and Paris. With the Merkel portrait, he becomes known to a broad audience in Germany for the first time. The work is regarded as his most important public commission to date. The portrait will be accessible to the public at the Bode Museum until October 4.

After that, the painting will move to the Chancellery Gallery of the Federal Chancellery, where it is to receive a permanent place alongside the portraits of all previous federal chancellors. Merkel thus officially takes her place in the row of her predecessors and successors in office—even if, by her own account, she views her departure from active politics with mixed feelings.

Merkel's Reaction: „Da häng' ich dann eben"

In the run-up to the unveiling, Die Zeit had published a detailed interview with Merkel the week before. In it, the CDU politician reflected on growing older and the gradual process of becoming history. „Es ist komisch, wenn man langsam Geschichte wird", said the 71-year-old. She is trying to accept the honor with composure.

When asked about the future place of her painting on the wall of the Chancellery, she responded with a faint smile and a mix of understatement and pragmatism typical of her: „Da häng' ich dann eben." At the same time, she emphasized that she had not regarded the portrait as a tedious obligatory exercise: „sondern ich wollte Freude haben".

The unveiling on Tuesday is part of a phase in which Merkel's term in office is increasingly being placed in historical context. In 2024, she had celebrated her 70th birthday and taken part in the celebrations marking 75 years of the Basic Law. Observers see the portrait as a symbolic act of contextualizing an era that shaped Germany from 2005 to 2021.

Symbolic Conclusion of an Era

Merkel entered federal politics in 1990 as deputy government spokesperson and held the office of Federal Chancellor from 2005 to 2021. These years encompassed, among other events, the 2015 refugee movement with Merkel's pronouncement on „Willkommenskultur", international summit meetings such as the G7 summit in Elmau in 2015 or in Canada in 2018, as well as joint appearances with then-US President George W. Bush in 2006 in Stralsund.

The creation of an official portrait for the Chancellery Gallery follows a long tradition in the Federal Republic of Germany. Helmut Kohl, Gerhard Schröder, and other predecessors of Merkel also had themselves painted after leaving office. With the choice of Queyras and the staging of the painting—standing, in blue, with distinct lighting accents—Merkel, however, deliberately sets her own accents.

A Young Painter for the Chancellery Gallery

Also noteworthy is the biographical background of the painter. Jérémie Queyras, 28 years old, of Franco-German origin and raised in Freiburg, is at the beginning of his artistic career. The commission to paint the official portrait of a former federal chancellor is regarded in the art world as an extraordinary distinction for an artist of his age.

The presentation at the Bode Museum, which belongs to the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation and is known for its European sculpture collection, lent the event a museum-quality setting. Until October 4, visitors have the opportunity there to view the work at close range before it takes its permanent place in the Chancellery.