Skip to content

Solo Exhibition

»Herlinde Koelbl.
Angela Merkel Portraits 1991-2021«

Herlinde Koelbl

When Angela Merkel’s tenure as German chancellor came to a close in autumn 2021, it also marked the end of a project for Herlinde Koelbl that is without parallel in her own or any other photographer’s oeuvre. For three decades, the artist took, at regular intervals, the portrait of someone who became one of the most powerful politicians in the world. Koelbl first photographed Merkel in 1991, when she had just assumed the post of Federal Minister for Women and Youth in Helmut Kohl’s cabinet, in the year after reunification. The last portrait dates from 2021, when Merkel’s sixteen-year term as chancellor came to an end.

In unusually quiet and intimate close-ups, Koelbl captured the image of a politician who would gradually evolve into a much-photographed media figure. Here, however, there are no symbols of power to distract our gaze from the sitter herself. Few could ever have predicted Merkel’s rise. Before her, only men had held the offices of chancellor, president, or foreign minister in the Federal Republic of Germany. She was the first female head of government in German history.

The exhibition “Herlinde Koelbl. Angela Merkel Portraits 1991-2021” is on view at the Deutsches Historisches Museum from 29 April to 4 September 2022. With it, the DHM invites visitors to trace the stepping stones and milestones of Merkel’s political career up to the closing chapter of her time as Germany’s first female chancellor. There isn’t a long-term portrait series like it that consistently records the rise to power of any other politician on the global stage. What we see are close-ups that not only document an extreme physical and psychological transformation over time but also an unusual encounter between statesperson and photographer.

Herlinde Koelbl: Angela Merkel, 1998 © Herlinde Koelbl
Herlinde Koelbl: Angela Merkel, 1991 © Herlinde Koelbl
Herlinde Koelbl. Angela Merkel. Portraits 1991–2021, Cologne 2021, 248 pages, Taschen Verlag, ISBN 978-3-8365-8873-7 © Herlinde Koelbl, Taschen
Herlinde Koelbl: Angela Merkel, 2021 © Herlinde Koelbl

Displayed alongside the 47 portraits are quotes and catchphrases uttered by Merkel herself. The presentation also features listening stations and a video collage of excerpts from interviews conducted by Herlinde Koelbl with Angela Merkel in the years 1991 to 1998. Her answers to the question repeated at each sitting in the nineties – “What have you learned?” – trace how Merkel gradually found her feet in the male-dominated political arena.

In 1999, the DHM presented a photo exhibition called “Spuren der Macht” (Traces of Power), for which Herlinde Koelbl portrayed fifteen figures from the world of politics, business, and the media over the period 1991 to 1998. It was on the back of this project that Koelbl chose to continue her series with Merkel. The result is a thirty-year chronicle of what has become known as the “Merkel era”. The photobook of the same name is available from Taschen.

Framework program

Thursday, Apr 28, 2022
Opening Reception
By invitation only.
The speech by Prof. Dr. Gesine Schwan, political scientist and chair of the SPD’s Basic Values Commission, delivered at the opening of the exhibition “Herlinde Koelbl. Angela Merkel Portraits 1991–2021” on 28 April 2022, can now be read on the DHM-Blog.

Guided tours in German:
Tuesday & Friday, 3 pm (3 € + admission fee)
German and English audio guides are also available.
Tour booking and information: +49 30 20304-750/-751,

DHM Deutsches Historisches Museum

Apr 29 — Sep 4, 2022
+ Framework program: please see above

Entrance: Pei Building · Hinter dem Gießhaus 3 · 10117 Berlin
[District: Mitte | Borough: Mitte]

Opening hours: Fri – Wed 10 am – 6 pm, Thu 10 am – 8 pm

Admission: 8 € / reduced 4 €, free up to 18 years | Barrier-free access, Details

Current photography exhibitions/events recommended in…
Berlin | Mitte

f³ – freiraum für fotografie | Sabine Weiss »A Photographer’s Life«

Alfred Ehrhardt Stiftung | Joan Fontcuberta »What Darwin Missed«

Akademie der Künste | Candida Höfer »Käthe-Kollwitz-Preis 2024«

CHAUSSEE 36 Photography | AdeY »UNCENSORED«

Robert Morat Galerie | Lydia Goldblatt »Fugue«

Schöneberg Museum | »Das Leben festhalten. Fotoalben jüdischer Familien im Schatten des Holocaust«

PiB Guide Nº57 NOV/DEC 2024 © PiB (Photography in Berlin). COVER PHOTO: Rineke Dijkstra, Vondelpark, Amsterdam, June 10, 2005 © Rineke Dijkstra, Galerie Max Hetzler, Marian Goodman Gallery and Galerie Jan Mot. Solo show »Still — Moving Portraits 1992-2024« at Berlinische Galerie in Berlin-Kreuzberg, read more on page 4 & 5! +++ 2 photos on right double page spread (p. 5): Kolobrzeg, Poland, July 25, 1992, 2 Vondelpark, Amsterdam, June 10, 2005 © Rineke Dijkstra, Galerie Max Hetzler, Marian Goodman Gallery and Galerie Jan Mot. +++ PiB Guide Editor / V.i.S.d.P. / Art Direction: Julia Schiller & Oliver Schneider · www.ele-studio.de +++ Printed on 100% recycling paper in Berlin-Köpenick by altmann-druck, many thanks!

Current print issue
PiB Guide Nº57
NOV/DEC 2024

#pibguide

Discover great photography exhibitions in Berlin & beyond in PiB’s bi-monthly print issue, the PiB Guide! The PiB Guide Nº57 NOV/DEC 2024 has been published as a booklet, A6 format · 32 pages · English & German · worldwide shipping.

Order

Aktuelle Printausgabe
PiB Guide Nº57
NOV/DEC 2024

#pibguide

Entdecke großartige Fotoausstellungen in Berlin & darüberhinaus in PiBs zweimonatlicher Printausgabe, dem PiB Guide! Der PiB Guide Nº57 NOV/DEC 2024 ist erschienen als Booklet im DIN A6 Format · 32 Seiten · Deutsch & Englisch · weltweiter Versand.

Bestellen

PiB's E-Newsletter

Sign up for PiB's free, weekly eNewsletter and stay up-to-date in Berlin's vibrant photography scene! Assembled with love once a week in English & German for an international audience of photography enthusiasts, collectors, curators and journalists.

Free sign-up!
#pibnewsletter – the weekly, digital E-Newsletter by PiB Photography in Berlin
»PiB — Photography in Berlin« | PiB’s website, PiB’s weekly E-Newsletter, and the bi-monthly published PiB Guide: page 12 & 13 from the PiB Guide Nº15 Nov/Dec 2017; feat. the exhibition Evelyn Hofer »Cities, Interiors, Still Lifes. Photographs 1962 – 1997« at Galerie Springer Berlin; image credits: Queensboro Bridge, New York, 1964 / Coney Island, New York, 1965 / Girl with Bicycle, Dublin, 1966, all 3 photos © Evelyn Hofer, Estate Evelyn Hofer.
»PiB — Photography in Berlin« | PiB’s website, PiB’s weekly E-Newsletter, and the bi-monthly published PiB Guide: page 12 & 13 from the PiB Guide Nº15 Nov/Dec 2017; feat. the exhibition Evelyn Hofer »Cities, Interiors, Still Lifes. Photographs 1962 – 1997« at Galerie Springer Berlin; image credits: Queensboro Bridge, New York, 1964 / Coney Island, New York, 1965 / Girl with Bicycle, Dublin, 1966, all 3 photos © Evelyn Hofer, Estate Evelyn Hofer.

You & PiB

Reach a dedicated audience of art & photography enthusiasts in Berlin & beyond – by presenting your exhibition/event or institution/product/service with PiB!

Read more
#Tags for this article:
Cart
Back To Top
Search