--- description: The magazine has a long history of asking artists to create cover portraits title: Behind TIME's Person of the Year Cover image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb961f089ead0b9e8/69887489524fc06454df5d4f/time-person-of-the-year-angela-merkel-behind-the-cover.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [World](/section/world/) ## World Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Behind TIME's Person of the Year Cover  by [Nancy Gibbs](/author/nancy-gibbs/)  ## Nancy Gibbs Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Dec 9, 2015 11:30 AM CUT  Artist Colin Davidson with his painting of Angela Merkel commissioned for the cover of TIME's 2015 Person of the Year issue Artist Colin Davidson with his painting of Angela Merkel commissioned for the cover of TIME's 2015 Person of the Year issueTIME  by [Nancy Gibbs](/author/nancy-gibbs/)  ## Nancy Gibbs Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Dec 9, 2015 11:30 AM CUT At TIME we have always enjoyed the challenge of creating compelling cover portraits. Over the years, we’ve commissioned artists from Marc Chagall to Roy Lichtenstein to Andy Warhol; for this Person of the Year, creative director D.W. Pine reached out to Colin Davidson to make an oil painting of German Chancellor Angela Merkel. “For me, it’s about the eyes,” D.W. says. “The realistic detail of his subjects’ eyes draws the viewer in closer to fully appreciate the sculptural use of his bold brushstrokes.” Davidson lives and works near Belfast; since 2010 his focus has been on grand-scale portraits, which have won many international awards. “I have become increasingly preoccupied, not with a sitter’s celebrity but more with their status as a human being,” says Davidson. “Although likeness is vital in my practice, it is my hope that a sense of the German Chancellor’s dignity, compassion and humanity is woven into the paint.” **_Read More:_** [_TIME’s 2015 Person of the Year_ _Is Angela Merkel_](http://time.com/time-person-of-the-year-2015-angela-merkel/ "undefined") We choose as Person of the Year the individual who has had the greatest influence, for better or worse, on the world and the news each year. The process invariably inspires a lively debate. While on occasion we have named groups, such as last year’s Ebola Fighters, and even objects (the Computer in 1982), we have not named an individual woman since Philippine President Corazon Aquino in 1986\. “The label of Person of the Year tends to favor people with institutional power,” notes deputy managing editor Radhika Jones, who oversaw this issue. “In that sense, we’re not breaking with tradition. It’s a lot easier to make news from an address like the White House or the Vatican — or in this case, the Chancellery.” I was reminded of the rich history of Person of the Year when I had dinner last summer with Ambassador [Ken Adelman](http://time.com/4132627/meet-the-most-devoted-fan-of-times-person-of-the-year-issue/ "undefined") and saw his collection of signed covers. It includes Martin Luther King Jr., Ronald Reagan, Nelson Mandela and Vladimir Putin. He does not, however, have Queen Elizabeth II (1952); he was informed that the Queen only signs official documents. ### See Every Person Of The Year Cover Ever  Photograph by Mark Mahaney for TIME  Portrait by Jason Seiler for TIME  Photograph by Evgenia Arbugaeva for TIME  2018: The Guardians Photographs by Moises Saman-Magnum Photos for TIME  TIME Person of the Year 2017: The Silence Breakers Billy & Hells for TIME  2016: Donald Trump TIME  2015: Angela Merkel TIME  2014: The Ebola Fighters TIME  2013: Pope Francis TIME  2012: President Barack Obama TIME  2011: The Protester TIME  2010: Mark Zuckerberg TIME  2009: Ben Bernanke TIME  2008: President Barack Obama TIME  2007: Vladimir Putin TIME  2006: You TIME  2005: The Good Samaritans: Bill Gates, Bono, Melinda Gates TIME  2004: President George W. Bush TIME  2003: The American Soldier TIME  2002: The Whistleblowers: Cynthia Cooper, Coleen Rowley and Sherron Watkins TIME  2001: Rudy Giuliani TIME  2000: President George W. Bush TIME  1999: Jeff Bezos TIME  1998: Kenneth Starr and Bill Clinton TIME  1997: Andrew Grove TIME  1996: Dr. David Ho TIME  1995: Newt Gingrich TIME  1994: Pope John Paul II TIME  1993: The Peacemakers: Yitzhak Rabin, Nelson Mandela, F.W. De Klerk, Yasser Arafat TIME  1992: President Bill Clinton TIME  1991: Ted Turner TIME  1990: President George H.W. Bush TIME  1989: Mikhail Gorbachev TIME  1988: Endangered Earth TIME  1987: Mikhail Gorbachev TIME  1986: Corazon Aquino TIME  1985: Deng Xiaoping TIME  1984: Peter Ueberroth TIME  1983: President Ronald Reagan and Yuri Andropov TIME  1982: The Computer TIME  1981: Lech Wałęsa TIME  1980: President Ronald Reagan TIME  1979: Ayatollah Khomeini TIME  1978: Deng Xiaoping TIME  1977: Anwar Sadat TIME  1976: President Jimmy Carter TIME  1975: American Women TIME  1974: King Faisal TIME  1973: John Sirica TIME  1972: President Richard Nixon and Henry Kissinger TIME  1971: President Richard Nixon TIME  1970: Willy Brandt TIME  1969: The Middle Americans TIME  1968: The Apollo 8 Astronauts TIME  1967: President Lyndon B. Johnson TIME  1966: Men and Women 25 and Under TIME  1965: William Westmoreland TIME  1964: Lyndon B. Johnson TIME  1963: Martin Luther King, Jr. TIME  1962: Pope John XXIII TIME  1961: President John F. Kennedy TIME  1960: U.S. Scientists TIME  1959: President Dwight D. Eisenhower TIME  1958: Charles de Gaulle TIME  1957: Nikita Khrushchev TIME  1956: The Hungarian Freedom Fighter TIME  1955: Harlow Curtice TIME  1954: John Foster Dulles TIME  1953: Konrad Adenauer TIME  1952: Queen Elizabeth II TIME  1951: Mohammad Mossadegh TIME  1950: The American Fighting Man TIME  1949: Winston Churchill TIME  1948: President Harry S. Truman TIME  1947: George Marshall TIME  1946: James F. Byrnes TIME  1945: President Harry S. Truman TIME  1944: Dwight D. Eisenhower TIME  1943: George Marshall TIME  1942: Joseph Stalin TIME  1941: President Franklin D. Roosevelt TIME  1940: Winston Churchill TIME  1939: Joseph Stalin TIME  1938: Adolf Hitler TIME  1937: Chiang Kai-shek and Soong May-ling TIME  1936: Wallis Simpson TIME  1935: Haile Selassie TIME  1934: President Franklin D. Roosevelt TIME  1933: Hugh S. Johnson TIME  1932: Franklin D. Roosevelt TIME  1931: Pierre Laval TIME  1930: Mahatma Gandhi TIME  1929: Owen D. Young TIME  1928: Walter Chrysler TIME  1927: Charles Lindbergh TIME ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4141829/time-person-of-the-year-angela-merkel-behind-the-cover/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4141829/time-person-of-the-year-angela-merkel-behind-the-cover/"},"headline":"Behind TIME's Person of the Year Cover","datePublished":"2015-12-09T11:30:28.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T04:49:30.305Z","description":"The magazine has a long history of asking artists to create cover portraits","url":"https://time.com/4141829/time-person-of-the-year-angela-merkel-behind-the-cover/","keywords":["Person of the Year topic"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb961f089ead0b9e8/69887489524fc06454df5d4f/time-person-of-the-year-angela-merkel-behind-the-cover.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Nancy Gibbs","jobTitle":"","url":"https://time.com/author/nancy-gibbs/"}],"articleSection":"World","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb961f089ead0b9e8/69887489524fc06454df5d4f/time-person-of-the-year-angela-merkel-behind-the-cover.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"TIME Person of the Year behind the cover","caption":"Artist Colin Davidson with his painting of Angela Merkel commissioned for the cover of TIME's 2015 Person of the Year Issue.","creditText":"TIME","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/world/","name":"World"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4141829/time-person-of-the-year-angela-merkel-behind-the-cover/","name":"Behind TIME's Person of the Year Cover"}}]}] ```