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Angela Merkel Minus a Finger: Official Portrait of Ex-Chancellor Puzzles Germany

Angela Merkel Minus a Finger: Official Portrait of Ex-Chancellor Puzzles Germany
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Germany is abuzz over a mysterious detail in the new official portrait of Angela Merkel, painted for the gallery of chancellors: on the former chancellor's left hand, one finger appears to be missing. The painting was created by Jérémy Cairou, a French-German artist who was little known until now, and it is currently on display at the Bode Museum in Berlin, where it will remain until the end of October before moving to the Federal Chancellery building, home to the actual portrait gallery.

The canvas shows Merkel standing at her desk, right hand lowered, with one of her favourite objects beside her — a cube inscribed with the phrase "Calm is strength." Everything would seem perfectly ordinary were it not for her left hand: observers have noted that the fingers seemingly touching the furniture simply don't add up to the correct number.

The German tabloid Bild has openly called it a puzzle: "Why does Merkel apparently have a finger missing on her left hand? Did the artist simply make a mistake, or was it deliberate?" The portal Watson went further, floating a political interpretation — perhaps the artist was alluding to the clash between left and right in politics. The same outlet also wondered whether the painter might have been making a statement about artificial intelligence — for or against it — or simply reminding us that to err is human.

Whatever the truth, one thing is certain: thanks to this story, 28-year-old Jérémy Cairou's name has become widely known. According to the Belgian outlet 7sur7, his loose, expressive brushwork evokes a blend of Rembrandt and Vermeer.

Portraits of Germany's seven former chancellors are kept in the Chancellery building, situated on a bend of the Spree River — right where the border between communist East Germany and West Berlin once ran. The idea for the gallery was first proposed back in 1976 by then-Chancellor Helmut Schmidt, at a time when the federal government was still based in Bonn.

Read also: Unusual museums of Prague: 11 offbeat spots for those who've already seen the postcard-perfect ones

Around Prague, based on reporting by novinky.cz

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