A Reign in Pictures

• Herlinde Koelbl: Angela Merkel, 1991
  © Herlinde Koelbl
• Herlinde Koelbl: Angela Merkel, 1995
  © Herlinde Koelbl
• Herlinde Koelbl: Angela Merkel, 2009
  © Herlinde Koelbl

The exhibition ‘Herlinde Koelbl. Angela Merkel Portraits 1991-2021’ is open at the German Historical Museum (DHM) in Berlin until September 4, 2022.

When Angela Merkel retired from office in autumn 2021, it also marked the end of a unique project: for three decades, photographer Herlinde Koelbl had accompanied Merkel as she rose from a young, inexperienced politician to Germany’s first female chancellor.

The initial portrait in this long-term series was taken in 1991, when Merkel had just been appointed Federal Minister for Women and Youth in the cabinet of Helmut Kohl. The final image stems from 2021 – the year in which Merkel’s 16-year tenure as chancellor drew to a close.

With the exhibition ‘Herlinde Koelbl. Angela Merkel Portraits 1991-2021’, the German Historical Museum invites visitors to retrace the stages of Angela Merkel’s remarkable career. No other politician on the global stage has ever been portrayed in a comprehensive, long-term series of this kind. Koelbl’s images are a close-up chronicle detailing the physical and psychological transformation of a powerful leader – as well as a unique testament to an extraordinary, thirty-year collaboration.

For further information visit Deutsches Historisches Museum