Ready for it? Swifties swarm German museum to see Ophelia painting

The opening part of Taylor Swift's video "The Fate of Ophelia" is displayed on a mobile phone in a museum showing a painting by Art Nouveau painter Friedrich Heyser showing Ophelia, a Shakespeare Character, in Wiesbaden, Germany, Thursday, Oct. 16, 2025.

Taylor Swift fans sang and danced Sunday to her new hit “The Fate of Ophelia” at a German museum exhibiting a painting thought to have inspired the video for the chart-topper.

Some came as Ophelia, in white dresses with flowers in their hair, while others donned sparkly outfits like those often worn by Swift, as they descended on the western town of Wiesbaden.

They were attending a special event to see the painting by artist Friedrich Heyser, which shows Ophelia, a character in Shakespeare’s Hamlet, in a white dress floating in a river among flowers before her death.

At the start of the music video for “The Fate of Ophelia”, from her latest album, “The Life of a Showgirl,” Swift appears in what seems to be a mock-up of the work, lying in a white dress -- before the painting comes alive, and she begins to sing.

Since the single’s release last month, the Wiesbaden museum has been flooded with Swift fans seeking to get a glimpse of the work.

“It’s incredible that this picture, which inspired Taylor Swift, is hanging here in Wiesbaden,” Corinna Greiner, a 47-year-old office worker attending Sunday’s event with her daughter, told AFP.

“When I found out, I was simply overwhelmed.”

About 200 Swift fans flocked to the sold-out event, which started with a lecture from one of the museum’s experts about the painting.

“The Fate of Ophelia” was then blasted from speakers, and the fans got to their feet to dance in front of Heyer’s painting, before lining up to snap selfies with it.

‘Great atmosphere’

“I really love art, and I wanted to see the connection between the Ophelia painting and Taylor Swift in real life,” Isabelle Bastian, a 26-year-old student who was attending the event, told AFP.

“The atmosphere is great -- it’s like a mini-concert.”

Heyser is thought to have completed the work featuring Ophelia -- a noblewoman from Denmark in Shakespeare’s play, who goes mad and drowns -- in around 1900.

It has been in the Wiesbaden museum’s collection since 2019. But the museum had no idea it was going to feature in Swift’s video until their social media channels lit up after the release of “The Fate of Ophelia” in October.

“We were very surprised,” museum director Andreas Henning told AFP.

“We had no idea that Taylor Swift would choose this painting, and we had no inkling of what that would mean.

“The Swifties are coming from Germany, France, and England -- it’s a big phenomenon.”

The museum has not heard from Swift or her management about the link between her hit, which is the lead single from her album “The Life of a Showgirl”, and Heyser’s painting.

But fans are keen for her to pay a visit.

“Taylor, come to Wiesbaden!” they chanted in unison at the end of Sunday’s event.