The "Pantone Merkel", also known as the "many shades of Merkel" or "Merkel Rainbow", is a compilation of photos of Angela Merkel, former

chancellor of Germany The chancellor of Germany, officially the federal chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany,; often shortened to ''Bundeskanzler''/''Bundeskanzlerin'', / is the head of the federal government of Germany and the commander in chief of the Ge ...

, collected by Dutch graphic designer Noortje van Eekelen. It consists of an overview of Merkel's jackets arranged into a chart by colour in a manner similar to the

Pantone Pantone LLC (stylized as PANTONE) is a limited liability company headquartered in Carlstadt, New Jersey. The company is best known for its Pantone Matching System (PMS), a proprietary color space used in a variety of industries, notably graphic ...

color chart. The "Pantone Merkel" also includes captions describing the locations and dates the photos were taken. The series is composed of 100 different news photos of public moments and has become one of the most widely recognized symbols of Merkel, including many variations and imitations. The project went viral and gained considerable media attention via social media and was published by many international websites, magazines and newspapers, including ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'', ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'', and ''

The Telegraph ''The Telegraph'', ''Daily Telegraph'', ''Sunday Telegraph'' and other variant names are popular names for newspapers. Newspapers with these titles include: Australia * ''The Telegraph'' (Adelaide), a newspaper in Adelaide, South Australia, publ ...

''.

Background

The Pantone Merkel was created as part of the project "The Spectacle of the Tragedy," a website with collected and repurposed images identifying the politicians who navigate the Eurozone crisis. The project was made as part of van Eekelen's Master of Design at the Sandberg Instituut Amsterdam, and is generally described as a satire of the crisis. The project approaches the Eurozone crisis through a wide variety of disciplines, such as fashion, art, design, journalism, politics, and economics. The purpose of The Spectacle of the Tragedy is to generate a platform to reflect on the euro crisis, by "

elling ''Elling'' is a Norwegian Black comedy film directed by Petter Næss. Shot mostly in and around the Norwegian capital Oslo, the film, which was released in 2001, is primarily based on Ingvar Ambjørnsen's novel ''Brødre i blodet'' ("Blood brot ...

a visual story about the politicians that navigate the Euro crisis" and giving readers "an insight into their irresponsible behavior". The project can be interpreted as an entertaining diversion and commentary on how our European leaders are trying to secure financial security in the eurozone. In contrast to many female celebrities and public figures, Merkel is known for purchasing and repeatedly wearing her own formal clothes. In 2014 the newspaper ''

Bild ''Bild'' (or ''Bild-Zeitung'', ; ) is a German tabloid newspaper published by Axel Springer SE. The paper is published from Monday to Saturday; on Sundays, its sister paper ''Bild am Sonntag'' ("''Bild on Sunday''") is published instead, which ...

'' praised Merkel for attending a formal event in a tunic she had owned since at least 1996.

Imitation

In (online) discussions, the "Pantone Merkel" is often compared to the "Diamond Jubilee Colour Guide" by Pantone and Leo Burnett London. The Pantone Merkel has been imitated several times by various parties, including Reuters and the German

; it has also been shown in different exhibitions and lectures. The artistic approach of the Pantone Merkel was followed by the Dutch image editor Frank Schallmaier, who reached a large audience in December 2013 with a series of photos called "De hand van Hollande".

References

External links

* Overview press
Press (selection)
{{Use dmy dates, date=July 2024 Contemporary works of art Cultural depictions of Angela Merkel

Background

Imitation

See also

References

External links