The Portrait of the German Chancellor: First Unveiling of the Official Portrait of Former Chancellor Angela Merkel

She stands, which none of the chancellors before her did for their portraits. Jérémie Queyras painted Angela Merkel slightly larger than life, cut at the knees, in a bright blue blazer she picked because the colour felt commanding. Her hands skip the famous diamond: one rests on the arm of a chair. On a small table beside her sits the cube from her desk, engraved "power lies in calm".

This is one painting, shown in the Bode-Museum's French Hall before it joins the Chancellery's gallery of chancellors. Merkel chose Queyras, then 28 and little known, after he wrote to her by hand in 2022. Monopol's Elke Buhr called it "a very conventional approach": up close, you can test her verdict of good eyes and weaker hands.

Visitor numbers nearly doubled after the unveiling, Monopol reports. Entry is the regular Bode-Museum ticket, €14 (€7 concessions), or €24 for the Museum Island pass. Thursdays run until 8pm through December, and the portrait stays until 3 January 2027.