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Devoted followers of Taylor Swift are generating a significant rise in popularity at a German art institution that houses a painting of Shakespeare's figure Ophelia, newly referenced in a song and music video from Swift's recent record "The Life of a Showgirl".

The museum in Wiesbaden in the heartland German town of Wiesbaden saw hundreds more visitors than usual over the weekend, as enthusiasts wished to see the actual version of the painting that opens the music video for "The Fate of Ophelia".

In the video, which has been watched more than 65 thousand instances on YouTube, the painting springs to life, with Taylor Swift at its center.

"We're really enjoying this focus - it's quite exciting," a gallery official stated.

The representative shared that one family had journeyed from the upper German location of Hamburg, a five-hour trip from there, while some of the guests were Americans from a local army base.

The spokesperson explained that fans discovered the Friedrich Heyser portrait - thought to be created to 1900 - was there when the gallery employees, recognizing the similarity, put an notice on their online platform encouraging any Swift fans to join a unique tour.

The news then became popular across social media, the institution reported.

Online updates describing the portrait's whereabouts received many thousands of likes, far higher than the approximately one hundred of reactions that many of its posts usually receive.

In Hamlet, this female figure, his wife, a young aristocrat from this nation, suffers a breakdown and drowns.

While more obscure than John Everett Millais's painting of Ophelia, the portrait also portrays a female figure in a elegant garment lying drowned in liquid, surrounded by blossoms.

The visual is referenced on Taylor Swift's record artwork, which depicts her somewhat underwater in water.

"We are amazed and thrilled that this musician employed this painting from the museum as inspiration for her music video," a gallery head commented.

"This is, of course, a wonderful chance to draw people to the museum who are unfamiliar with us so far."

"Swift's new album" earned the United Kingdom's largest opening week of the current year, after selling 304,000 copies in the first the debut period.

In the US, it earned exceeding 4 million equivalent record units in the America in its debut week, according to Billboard, beating the record established by Adele with her album "25" in that year.

The release is the artist's third record to lead the UK album chart in 2025, after "Lover (Live From Paris)" in February and "The Tortured Poets Department", when it returned to the top spot in recently.

It is additionally the initial original album Taylor Swift has put out since she announced her upcoming wedding to NFL star Travis Kelce in August and disclosed in May that she had retrieved control over her back catalogue.