A German museum has been unexpectedly overrun by Taylor Swift fans because one of its paintings bears a striking resemblance to the opening scene of the star's new video The Fate Of Ophelia.

The work, by Friedrich Heyser, depicts Hamlet's beloved in William Shakespeare's play of the same name.

Ophelia, a young noblewoman from Denmark, ultimately goes mad and drowns. 

Heyser's work has been on display at the Hessische Landesmuseum in the central German city of Wiesbaden for years.

But in recent days, the institution has been deluged with a flurry of first-time visitors interested in seeing the work that inspired Swift's latest single.

The video for The Fate of Ophelia, which opens with Swift lying in a similar pose while wearing a matching dress, was released earlier this month. 

Among the visitors were many American families who are stationed at a US Army base in Wiesbaden.

Heyser's oil-on-canvas painting presents the figure of Ophelia clad in white and surrounded by white water lilies.

The painting's exact year of creation is not known but experts believe it dates back to around 1900.

Museum spokesperson Susanne Hirschmann said the museum team recognised the resemblance earlier this month and decided to invite Swifties for a special tour next month.

Once they had posted an announcement of the tour on their website, news of the Ophelia painting soon went viral online.

'We're really enjoying this attention - it's a lot of fun,' Ms Hirschmann told The AP, adding that all fans showing up for the November 2 tour - Taylor Swift's 'Ophelia' at the Wiesbaden museum - dressed as the pop star or as 'the tragic beauty Ophelia' will be able to attend the tour for free.

There is just one problem: the tour is already completely booked, so the museum may just have to add additional tours for all art-crazed Swiftie fans.

Mr Henning said the museum has already tried to contact the singer, but has had no success so far getting hold of the global star.

'I would love to show Taylor Swift the original painting sometime,' he said.

'We are surprised and delighted that Taylor Swift used this painting from the museum as inspiration for her video,' Mr Henning said.

'This is, of course, a great opportunity to attract people to the museum who don't know us yet.'

The museum said it does not know for sure if the artwork served as a template for Swift's song, which is currently a number one hit both in Germany and the United States.

The Fate of Ophelia is the lead single in Swift's new album The Life of a Showgirl.

As the song opens, Swift sings: 'I heard you calling on the megaphone / You wanna see me all alone / As legend has it, you are quite the pyro / You light the match to watch it blow.'