Angela Merkel's portrait to join Germany's chancellery gallery after 16 years in office

After 16 years in office and four terms as Germany’s first female chancellor, Angela Merkel will soon join Gerhard Schröder, Helmut Kohl and Helmut Schmidt in the federal chancellery’s Ahnengalerie. The long-vacant spot beside Schröder’s portrait is about to be filled by a new painting of Merkel, commissioned from a 28-year-old artist and nearing completion, according to multiple reports on Wednesday, 24 June 2026.

The Tagesspiegel and Handelsblatt both confirmed that the chancellery has green-lit the portrait, which will hang in the gallery of former office-holders that lines the corridor outside the chancellor’s office in Berlin. The commissioning process has been underway for months, with Merkel herself telling Welt that she is taking the development “with equanimity,” adding: “So I’ll just have to hang there too.” The artist, whose identity has not been disclosed, is working from photographs and sittings arranged during the former chancellor’s retirement in her native Mecklenburg-Vorpommern.

The Ahnengalerie is a tradition rather than a legal requirement, and its portraits are typically added only after a chancellor has left office. Merkel’s inclusion follows the 2021 installation of Gerhard Schröder’s likeness, which completed the quartet of SPD chancellors represented. Kohl and Schmidt, both Christian Democrats, have occupied their places since the 1990s. The gallery’s curators have not set a firm unveiling date, but insiders told Tagesspiegel that the portrait could be installed as early as this autumn, timed to coincide with the 20th anniversary of Merkel’s first election on 22 September 2005.

Merkel’s impending inclusion comes as another former chancellor, Olaf Scholz, takes on a new public role. On Wednesday the coalition government announced that Scholz will lead a high-level commission to overhaul Germany’s development-aid strategy, a task agreed in the 2025 coalition treaty and driven in part by fresh budgetary constraints. The commission’s remit includes aligning German aid with the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals while finding savings of at least €1.2 billion annually, a figure first reported by Welt.

Elsewhere in Berlin’s political and cultural life, the Michelin-starred “Kochzimmer am Neuen Markt” in Potsdam lost its coveted star after a decade, a decision announced the same day. The restaurant, which has hosted visiting dignitaries including Scholz and French President Emmanuel Macron, will remain open under chef Jörg Frankenhäuser, who told Tagesspiegel the loss reflects “a new chapter” rather than the end of the road.