Swifties Flock to See German Museum's Ophelia Painting

October 17, 2025 | 07:45 am

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Hundreds of visitors have flocked to a museum in central Germany, after a painting there was featured in Taylor Swift's music video for her song "The Fate of Ophelia."

The video opens with superstar Swift lying down in a white dress, in stark resemblance to an Art Nouveau painting by Friedrich Heyser. The painting is one of Ophelia, Hamlet's beloved in William Shakespeare's play of the same name. 

In the original play, Ophelia ultimately becomes mad and drowns in a river.

What has the museum said about the Taylor Swift video?

Hundreds of additional people visited the Hessische Landesmuseum in Wiesbaden over the weekend to see the German artist's painting, believed to have been from around 1900.

Taylor Swift's fans, known as Swifties, include people who travelled all the way from Hamburg in the north of the country, as well as families of American soldiers stationed at the US military base in Wiesbaden, a museum spokesperson told the Associated Press news agency.

Andreas Henning, the director of the museum, told the German DPA news agency he saw similarities between Swift's video and Heyser's work.

"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."

Henning said attempts to reach out to the megastar have thus far been unsuccessful, expressing a wish "to show Taylor Swift the original painting sometime."

Editor’s Choice: All You Need to Know About Taylor Swift's "The Fate of Ophelia" Music Video

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