160-year-old painting of a woman 'proves' time travel is real
160-year-old painting of a woman 'proves' time travel is real
Emily MaliaMon, June 8, 2026 at 6:00 AM UTC
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Art lovers have picked the painting apart -Credit:Hajotthu / Wikimedia Commons (Hajotthu / Wikimedia Commons)
An 18th-century painting currently housed in a museum has sparked wild speculation that it contains evidence of time travel.
The female subject in the artwork appears to be clutching an object that wouldn't be invented for centuries to come.
Created by artist Ferdinand George Waldmüller, the piece is prominently displayed at the Neue Pinakothek museum in Munich, Germany, where its mysterious details have captured significant public interest.
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Titled 'The Expected One', the painting shows a man concealed among trees, holding out a flower as a woman approaches him, clutching what appears remarkably similar to a mobile phone. The backdrop features a picturesque rural landscape with rolling hills and lush vegetation. A dusty dirt track lies before her, bordered by stones with vines and foliage creeping along its edges.
George Waldmüller's painting titled 'The Expected One' -Credit:Hajotthu / Wikimedia Commons (Hajotthu / Wikimedia Commons)
The way she grips the device with both hands, thumbs positioned just so, mirrors exactly how someone today would hold their smartphone. This peculiar observation first gained traction around 2017 when art enthusiasts noticed what resembled a modern mobile device in the centuries-old painting and took to the internet with their theories.
The piece portrays a young woman absorbed in what one might reasonably assume is a book, while a gentleman watches, poised to offer her a flower.
Peter Russel, a former Glasgow local government official, noticed the striking similarity during a gallery visit and shared his perspective. He told Vice: "What strikes me most is how much a change in technology has changed the interpretation of the painting and, in a way, has leveraged its entire context.
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"'The big change is that in 1850 or 1860, every single viewer would have identified the item that the girl is absorbed in as a hymnal or prayer book.
The similarity was spotted in 2017 -Credit:AFP via Getty Images
"Today, no one could fail to see the resemblance to the scene of a teenage girl absorbed in social media on their smartphone."
Numerous observers believe the object most closely resembles an iPhone or touchscreen device, based on her posture and the way she's gazing intently downward. What makes the whole thing even more peculiar is that tech behemoth Apple didn't unveil the iPhone until 2007.
For context, the earliest smartphone featuring a physical keyboard - similar to what appears to show the woman tapping away - was the Nokia 9000 Communicator, which hit the market in 1996.
The most logical explanation for this mystery is that the young girl is actually shielding a book while reading as she walks. However, the book appears remarkably compact, which fuels the smartphone theory, though pocket-sized books were commonplace during that period.
A comparable incident occurred when former Apple chief Tim Cook claimed to have seen an iPhone in a 350 year old painting during a 2016 museum visit in Amsterdam. The piece depicts a man gripping what looks like a rectangular device, bearing a striking resemblance to a smartphone, while a woman and youngster both gaze at it.
Both artworks have sparked intense debate about technology and time travel, though neither has produced any concrete 'evidence'.
Source: “AOL Entertainment”
