Angela Merkel officially completed her 16-year tenure as chancellor of Germany on December 8, 2021. But she waited several years after leaving office before commissioning an artist to paint a portrait of her for the official gallery of former German leaders.
Merkel presented the painting on Tuesday evening. The portrait shows her in front of a golden background, gazing off into the distance in one of her signature blazers, this one a vibrant blue.
Before being added to the Federal Chancellery gallery, where all former postwar German heads of government are immortalized, Merkel’s new portrait will be displayed at the Bode Museum in Berlin from July 1 to October 4.
A young artist gets a big break
For the work, Merkel selected a previously little-known artist, Jeremie Queyras, who was born in Paris in 1997 and raised in Freiburg.
According to German weekly Die Zeit, the 28-year-old German-French painter had first approached Merkel in 2022, informally contacting her with a handwritten letter that included copies of his work.
It was only in the summer of 2025 that Merkel decided to commission him after an initial meeting.
A studio was specially set in Berlin, where several posing sessions took place.
Postwar German heads of government lined up
It was Helmut Kohl, who served as chancellor of Germany from 1982 to 1998, who came up with the idea of creating the gallery of portraits.
The painting of Angela Merkel will become the eighth portrait in the gallery — the first of a woman, as well as the first of a first person raised in the former communist German Democratic Republic (GDR).
Asked how she felt about joining the Chancellery’s portrait gallery, she told Die Zeit: “It’s strange when you slowly become history.”
“That’s simply where I’ll be hanging,” she added, pragmatically.
According to recent reports, Merkel’s successor, Olaf Scholz, hasn’t commissioned a portrait of himself for the gallery yet.
Iconic portraits of Angela Merkel from the past
Several artistic depictions of Merkel were made while she was in office, including for US magazines.
One painting by artist Colin Davidson served as the cover of the 2015 year-end issue of TIME magazine, when she was named Person of the Year. Another one by US painter Elizabeth Peyton illustrated Vogue magazine’s cover story in 2017.
Even former US President George W. Bush was inspired by the German chancellor’s iconic status when he set out to paint his series of 30 world leaders.
Edited by: Sarah Hucal.
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