Merkel Portrait Unveiled at Berlin's Bode-Museum
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- Jérémie Queyras, a 28-year-old Paris-born painter raised in southern Germany, wrote Merkel a handwritten letter in 2022 enclosing photocopies of his work and waited three years for a reply before receiving the commission.
- Angela Merkel personally paid for the portrait rather than using taxpayer funds, so ownership cannot be disputed and she can reclaim the painting if the far right gains power; she warned Queyras he might face resentment from other artists and hate from those who view her as the 'agent of doom.'
- The sittings took place secretly in a government-quarter studio in central Berlin, with the two chatting about 'all and sundry,' sitting in silence, or taking turns choosing classical music.
- The portrait deliberately avoids Merkel's trademark rhombus-shaped hand gesture: her left hand rests on a chair arm with three fingers, her right hand hangs down, and her expression conveys 'characteristic unease, and slight impatience, looking ready to flee if she has to.'
- Behind Merkel, the painting includes items from her old chancellery desk — a yellow cardboard file and a silver cube engraved 'In der Ruhe liegt die Kraft' ('In serenity strength lies') — that social media users have been dissecting for hidden meaning.
- The painting will remain on display at the Bode-Museum until October, then move to the chancellery to hang next to Gerhard Schröder's self-mocking portrait, whose Jörg Immendorff painting has been compared to 'the embossed coin of a Roman emperor.'
- Five years after leaving office, Germany is experiencing a wave of nostalgia for Merkel's chancellorship, crystallized in the viral 'lo fi merkelwave' audio featuring her voice and phrases like 'the internet is uncharted territory for all of us.'
Why it matters: Merkel's decision to pay privately so she can physically reclaim the portrait if the far right gains power signals she views the AfD's rise as a realistic threat rather than a hypothetical. The deliberate avoidance of her trademark rhombus hand suggests she wanted to be remembered as a person, not a meme, as nostalgia for her 16-year chancellorship visibly resurges.
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