--- title: TIME Person of the Year 2015: Angela Merkel Bush Painting description: This might be the first time that one Person of the Year has painted another canonical: https://time.com/4143390/time-person-of-the-year-2015-angela-merkel-george-w-bush/ author: TIME Staff article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-12-09T20:38:51.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:27:33.896Z og:title: There's Another Portrait of Angela Merkel and It Was Painted by George W. Bush og:description: This might be the first time that one Person of the Year has painted another og:url: https://time.com/4143390/time-person-of-the-year-2015-angela-merkel-george-w-bush/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf57df6a097c22651/698874b45f570f6050b1ec10/angela-merkel-george-bush-painting2.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 547 og:image:height: 286 og:image:alt: angela-merkel-george-bush-painting og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: There's Another Portrait of Angela Merkel and It Was Painted by George W. Bush twitter:description: This might be the first time that one Person of the Year has painted another twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf57df6a097c22651/698874b45f570f6050b1ec10/angela-merkel-george-bush-painting2.jpg?branch=production ---  # There's Another Portrait of Angela Merkel and It Was Painted by George W. Bush by [TIME Staff](https://time.com/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff Dec 9, 2015 8:38 PM UTC by [TIME Staff](https://time.com/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff Dec 9, 2015 8:38 PM UTC German Chancellor Angela Merkel was [named TIME Person of the Year](http://time.com/time-person-of-the-year-2015-angela-merkel-choice/) on Wednesday, with [a cover made from an oil portrait by award-winning artist Colin Davidson](http://time.com/4141829/time-person-of-the-year-angela-merkel-behind-the-cover/). But Davidson isn’t the only one with a high-profile painting of the German leader: TIME’s [2000](http://content.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,2019712%5F2019702%5F2019644,00.html) and [2004](http://content.time.com/time/specials/packages/0,28757,1998486,00.html) Person of the Year, former President George W. Bush, has also put Merkel to canvas. Bush famously started painting when he left office, and his rendering of Merkel is among his works on display at the George W. Bush Presidential Library in Dallas, Texas. He unveiled it along with other paintings of world leaders in 2014 in an exhibit titled, “The Art of Leadership: A President’s Personal Diplomacy.” The exhibit included paintings of more than two dozen world leaders, including Russian President Vladimir Putin, former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, and Merkel. [He conceded at the time that he is “not a great artist,”](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2014/04/04/meet-george-w-bush-artist/) but said he wanted to get better: “A whole new world has opened up.” Here at center is Bush’s painting of Merkel, which he said was done in the “spirit of friendship.” And here’s Davidson’s from TIME’s cover: TIME Person of the Year 2015: Angela Merkel Bush Painting ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4143390/time-person-of-the-year-2015-angela-merkel-george-w-bush/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4143390/time-person-of-the-year-2015-angela-merkel-george-w-bush/"},"headline":"There's Another Portrait of Angela Merkel and It Was Painted by George W. 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