In the presence of Angela Merkel (71), the official portrait of the former chancellor was unveiled on June 30, which will hang in the future in the ancestral gallery of the Chancellery in Berlin. Painted by Jérémie Queyras, the painting will first be displayed for a few more months at the Bode Museum in the capital.
"On the first floor of the Federal Chancellery, all previous federal chancellors are immortalized with a painting", it says on the official website of the Federal Chancellor. But where portraits of Brandt, Schmidt, Kohl or even Schröder hang, Merkel's is still missing. Only about five years after leaving her long-held office will the former chancellor's portrait find its future place.
Months of work and a strange feeling
The former federal chancellor posed for the portrait for months, the weekly newspaper "Die Zeit" reported a few days ago. According to the report, the painting was created in a specially set up studio in Berlin that was kept secret. In the last week of May, the painting was finally completed on a 110-by-140-centimeter canvas. Merkel is said to have paid for the portrait out of her own pocket; it is a loan. She wants to determine what happens to the painting.
Meanwhile, Merkel believes that her painting will lose its significance over the years. "I've walked through the Chancellery with school classes often enough, then we stood in front of the gallery, and I wanted to hear from them who the gentlemen hanging there might be", she reportedly said. Sometimes Kohl or Schröder were recognized, but with the others "there was mostly cluelessness". Actually seeing the painting next to those of her colleagues could be a strange moment for Merkel. "It's odd when you slowly become history", the former chancellor explained. "There I'll hang then."
Those who would like to view the painting in person will have the opportunity to do so until October. The Bode Museum is regularly open Tuesday through Sunday - on weekdays from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., on weekends from 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.
