Sea otters and art museums are feeling Taylor Swift's Midas touch

Mr Andreas Henning was caught off guard by the Swifties coming out of the woodwork.

- Sopan Deb

At the Museum Wiesbaden, which he oversees near Frankfurt, Germany, American pop star Taylor Swift's fans have been coming in droves to take in Ophelia, a rather obscure painting by 19th-century artist Friedrich Wilhelm Theodor Heyser inspired by the tragic character in Shakespeare's Hamlet.

The reason for the sudden interest appears in the opening seconds of the music video for The Fate Of Ophelia, the lead single from Swift's new album, The Life Of A Showgirl. Swift is shown floating in water in a white dress in an apparent tableau-vivant homage to Heyser's painting.

"Tell her I would love to know how she came across the painting," Mr Henning, the museum's director, said in an interview, referring to Swift, 35. "Does she love the painting? What is special for her and the painting? Has she ever been to Wiesbaden?"

Despite his bewilderment, he is happy to be among the latest beneficiaries of Swift's Midas touch.

"We are seeing a lot of teens here and a lot of people, especially during the weekends, hundreds of young people who come and are looking for this painting," Mr Henning said, adding: "This is great because a lot of these people might never have come to Wiesbaden."

STARDOM AND ECONOMICS

It has long been true that Swift's stardom has a demonstrated economic effect because of her concerts. But the episode in Wiesbaden, a city of fewer than 300,000 people, shows how even the slightest gaze from Swift can move the needle.