As I enter, I notice that everyone is facing the same portrait: Angela Merkel. Why would Merkel choose an unknown young painter to create her portrait? As she told the German newspaper Die Zeit, she was driven by curiosity about the young painter and his outlook on life. The portrait could not omit the silver diamond that a former editor-in-chief of Bild gave Merkel as a gift when she became chancellor. “Mona Merkel” was the title Stefan Trinks gave his article on the portrait in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.