The painting’s subject looks out of place on the museum wall, standing in a bright blue blazer, posing stiffly, her fingers perched tent-like on a table and her lined face unsmiling.
“I think she’s fantastic,” said a museum visitor, Heidi Brandt, gazing up at the painting of Angela Merkel.
Germans are experiencing a strange sort of nostalgia for Ms. Merkel, their former chancellor. At a time of political upheaval, polls show voters would rather see Ms. Merkel steering the country than the current chancellor, Friedrich Merz. Both are from the center-right Christian Democratic party.
After 16 years in power, Ms. Merkel left office in 2021 and her official portrait went on display in late summer at the Bode Museum in Berlin. Daily visits to the museum, which is usually not a top tourist draw, have risen by 80 percent since the exhibit opened. The rush was large enough to cause museum officials to extend the portrait’s stay by several months, through the end of the year.
Mr. Merz’s approval rating stands at 11 percent, said Peter Matuschek, who leads the German polling firm Forsa. Ms. Merkel left office with a rating near 75 percent, crossing party lines.
“People have an overall impression of her as a chancellor who seemed to hold the country together,” Mr. Matuschek said.
The affection persists even though Ms. Merkel’s policy legacy remains deeply unpopular — and widely blamed for many of Germany’s problems today. » | Aaron Wiener and Jim Tankersley | Reporting from Berlin | Monday, November 9, 2026
