Taylor Swift fans flock to German museum to view painting that inspired ‘The Fate Of Ophelia’ music video

A museum in Germany has seen a huge surge in attendance from Taylor Swift fans after one of its paintings was noted for its striking resemblance to the opening scene of her music video, ‘The Fate Of Ophelia’.

• READ MORE: Taylor Swift – ‘The Life Of A Showgirl’ review: magical when the songwriter just lets herself be

The Hessische Landesmuseum in the city of Wiesbaden saw hundreds more visitors than usual over the weekend, as fans flocked to see the portrait of the Shakespeare character, which depicts a woman in a long dress lying drowned in water, surrounded by flowers.

In the opening scene of the video for the hit song from her new album ‘The Life Of A Showgirl’, Swift slips into the role of Ophelia and becomes a living painting.

Museum spokesperson Susanne Hirschmann told BBC News fans realised the Friedrich Heyser painting – believed to date back to 1900 – was at the museum when the team, noticed the resemblance and put an announcement on their website inviting fans to attend a special tour.

THE FATE OF OPHELIA. pic.twitter.com/WJnSYiAXg4

— Taylor Swift Brasil (@taylorswiftbr) October 5, 2025

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

Henning went on to say the museum has already tried to contact the singer, but has had no success so far. “I would love to show Taylor Swift the original painting sometime,” he added.

‘The Fate Of Ophelia’, was the first official single to be shared from Swift’s 12th studio album. Earlier this week, she achieved her 15th US Number One record with ‘The Life Of A Showgirl’.

The musician currently occupies all Top 12 spots on the Billboard Hot 100 charts, while the album is Number One in the Billboard 200 albums chart – marking her 15th time reaching the milestone.

It comes as the album sets a new record for first-week sales with just over 4 million equivalent album units, breaking Adele’s long-held streaming-era record.

NME gave ‘The Life Of A Showgirl’ three stars, writing: “To seek escapism is not a sin, but the best pop music makes the personal feel like life or death. ‘Speak Now’, ‘Reputation’, ‘Folklore’: her greatest works could be genuinely transformative. For the first time, ‘The Life Of A Showgirl’ sees Swift not catalysed into artistic growth by love, but merely comfortably secured by it.”

Elsewhere, Swift also recently announced a new six-part docuseries charting her record-breaking ‘Eras Tour’.

The post Taylor Swift fans flock to German museum to view painting that inspired ‘The Fate Of Ophelia’ music video appeared first on NME.