Record number of visitors to the Wiesbaden Museum: Ophelia conquers hearts!

Record number of visitors to the Wiesbaden Museum: Ophelia conquers hearts!

The Wiesbaden Museum recorded an impressive number of visitors of over 130,000 last year. This means that 2025 will go down in history as the second strongest year in the last 25 years. An increase of around 20,000 visitors compared to the previous year, when 107,525 curious people visited the museum, makes it clear that the enjoyment of art is very popular. The mysterious magic of art and the participation of the Hessian Ministry of Science and Research in free admission on the weekends have certainly encouraged this development.

Numerous school and youth groups have discovered the museum for themselves, a new record with over 1,000 visits. Museum director Andreas Henning emphasizes that access to art and culture is crucial during the anniversary year. The double exhibition on bees in art and nature as well as the extraordinary presentations by Sven Drühl and Louise Nevelson attract additional audiences, while the show “Feininger, Münter, Modersohn-Becker…” is causing a sensation until April 26, 2026.

Ophelia is conquering the social media world

Another highlight in the Wiesbaden Museum is the picture “Ophelia” by Friedrich Heyser, which became a worldwide social media phenomenon thanks to the music video “The Fate of Ophelia” by Taylor Swift. The high demand for merchandise related to the painting led to the creation of an online shop where fans can purchase posters, postcards, T-shirts and mugs. This remarkable interest reflects the connection between art and popular culture and sets a new standard for the perception of classic works.

But who is behind the creative force that created this masterpiece? Friedrich Heyser, born in 1857 in Gnoien, Mecklenburg, was not an unknown quantity in the German Art Nouveau and Symbolism movement. His artistic training at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Dresden under the artists Leon Pohle and Paul Mohn as well as his further training in Karlsruhe with Ferdinand Keller shaped his style. In 1890 he even spent a short time at the Académie Julian in Paris, which broadened his horizons.

The mysterious reinterpretation

The painting, which depicts Ophelia surrounded by white water lilies and floating on the water, shows how Heyser's interpretation of Shakespeare's “Hamlet” motif became a legend in its own right. This fascinating depiction, probably created around 1900, is a mysterious homage to the well-known work of John Everett Millais, who made this scene famous in 1852. Heyser's work takes the viewer into a cycle of beauty, transience and the poetry of nature.

The popularity of Pre-Raphaelite artists, who created a unique combination of nature and ornamentation, was echoed in Heyser's work, making him a compelling part of art history. Whether he actually experiences a renaissance thanks to Swift remains exciting.