On Tuesday evening the official portrait of former Chancellor Angela Merkel was unveiled at Berlin's Bode Museum. The painting by artist Jérémie Queyras is scheduled to be handed over as a loan to the Chancellery in October.
With a determined yet thoughtful gaze and wearing a bright blue blazer against a gold-brown background, the painting shows Merkel standing in near life-size format down to the knees. She chose to be portrayed standing to highlight the traces of power on her face.
The image was unveiled on Tuesday evening before guests from family and friends. Present were Merkel's sister and husband as well as publisher Kerstin Gleba, art historian Horst Bredekamp and former party colleagues such as Annette Schavan and Peter Altmaier.
Merkel explained at the unveiling that she had needed distance before choosing the 28-year-old artist from a Freiburg musician family. "I needed distance," she said. The portrait should not be a point on a to-do list, "but I wanted to have joy in such a process".
Until its handover to Chancellor Friedrich Merz in October the work will be shown to the public on Berlin's Museum Island.
