about OPHELIA

The German painter Friedrich Heyser, born in 1857, was not previously among the well-known artists of German Art Nouveau and Symbolism. This changed abruptly when singer Taylor Swift referenced Heyser's painting in her music video "The Fate of Ophelia" in October 2025. In the opening scene, she recreates his composition as a so-called "living picture" (tableau vivant)—thus impressively bringing the work to life.

Thanks to a donation from Ferdinand W. Neess, the Museum Wiesbaden possesses an impressive depiction of Ophelia floating on water, surrounded by white water lilies, by Friedrich Heyser. The scene is taken from William Shakespeare's Hamlet and was famously rendered in 1852 by the English painter John Everett Millais, a member of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood—a group of artists who drew inspiration from the art of the time before Raphael. His "Ophelia" is considered the most famous depiction of this motif.

Some fifty years later, Heyser revisited the theme, creating a unique and enigmatic reinterpretation. His horizontal format work, likely created around 1900, clearly references Millais's work in its composition, yet transforms it into a depiction of youthful beauty absorbed in the cycle of life and transience. The popularity of the Pre-Raphaelites—with their unique fusion of nature and ornament—influenced many Art Nouveau artists and resonated in Heyser's work as well.

According to the buyer, the painting is part of a trilogy and may have formed the central panel of a sophisticated salon. Heyser also demonstrates an exceptional command of the text in his depiction of the surrounding nature, rendering it in a manner faithful to Shakespeare's play.

Ophelia at the Wiesbaden Museum
museum-wiesbaden.de/ophelia

To the museum's online collection
museum-wiesbaden.de/online-collection