Five years after the end of her chancellorship, Angela Merkel (CDU) has agreed to be portrayed for the Ancestors Gallery in the Federal Chancellery. For months, she stood as the subject of this portrait, according to the weekly newspaper “Die Zeit”.
The commission was awarded to Jérémy Queyras, an artist who is still relatively unknown at 28. He began meeting former Chancellor Merkel in the summer of 2025, and he documented her in a studio specifically set up in Berlin. The painting is scheduled to be exhibited at the Bode Museum in Berlin starting next Tuesday, and it is expected to appear in the Ancestors Gallery of the Chancellery no earlier than October.
Merkel had previously remained silent regarding all speculations surrounding the portrait. She now told “Die Zeit” that Queyras had informally applied to her in 2022, but she only decided on the painter after an initial meeting in June 2025. Queyras grew up in Freiburg, studied art in London and Paris, and moved to Berlin for this portrait commission. In addition to painting, he is involved with the role of AI in art and has participated in numerous performances.
When asked how it feels to soon be displayed in the Ancestors Gallery of the Chancellery, Merkel told “Die Zeit”: “It is strange when you slowly become history.” However, she stressed that she is trying to take the situation with grace, adding, “I’ll just hang there.”
