Taylor Swift fans flood German museum to see painting echoing her hit video 'The Fate of Ophelia'

16/10/2025

Taylor Swift

BERLIN, Oct 16, (AP): A German museum has been unexpectedly overrun by Taylor Swift fans because one of its paintings bears a striking resemblance to the opening scene of Swift’s current number one hit video, "The Fate of Ophelia.”

Hundreds of additional visitors came to the Hessische Landesmuseum in central Germany over the weekend to admire the painting, with one family traveling from the northern city of Hamburg especially for the occasion, museum spokesperson Susanne Hirschmann told German news agency dpa on Wednesday.

The Swifties’ goal: an Art Nouveau painting by Friedrich Heyser featuring Ophelia, Hamlet’s beloved in William Shakespeare’s play of the same name.

In the original play, Ophelia, a young noblewoman of Denmark, ultimately becomes mad and drowns.

Heyser’s oil-on-canvas painting presents the figure of Ophelia clad in white and surrounded by white water lilies. The painting’s exact year of creation is not known but experts believe it dates back to around 1900.

In the opening scene of the video for the hit song "The Fate of Ophelia,” Swift slips into the role of Ophelia and becomes a living painting.

The scene shows similarities to the work of Heyser, museum director Andreas Henning told dpa.

"We are surprised and delighted that Taylor Swift used this painting from the museum as inspiration for her video,” Henning said. "This is, of course, a great opportunity to attract people to the museum who don’t know us yet.”

Despite the similarities, the museum in the city of Wiesbaden said it does not know for sure if the art work served as a template for Swift's song, which is currently a number one hit both in Germany and the United States.

Henning said the museum has already tried to contact the singer, but has had no success so far getting a hold of the world star.

"I would love to show Taylor Swift the original painting sometime," he added.