A 19th-century painting on display at the Neue Pinakothek has brought time travel theories back into the spotlight. The work, titled “The Expected One” and created by Ferdinand Georg Waldmüller, depicts a romantic outdoor scene, but one small detail has many people asking big questions.
The painting shows a young girl walking along a path, while a man hidden among the trees appears to be offering her a flower. What has caught the public's attention is the object the girl is holding in her hands. To many modern eyes, it looks strangely like a smartphone , as she holds it with both hands and looks at it intently, much like someone checking their phone's screen.
The debate gained momentum around 2017, when visitors and art lovers noticed the resemblance and began sharing their theories online. Some even humorously suggested that the painting might contain evidence of time travel, as the smartphone was invented more than a century and a half after the work was created.
However, art experts offer a much simpler explanation. According to them, the object the girl is holding is almost certainly a prayer book or hymnal, items that were very common at the time. In fact, a 19th-century viewer would have immediately identified it as a book, without ever thinking about technology.
Former British civil servant Peter Russell, who noticed the detail during a visit to the gallery, said that what has changed is not the painting, but the way we interpret it. According to him, people today are so used to smartphones that they read the scene through their technological reality.
Ironically, this isn't the first time a piece of art has sparked such speculation. In 2016, former Apple CEO Tim Cook claimed to have seen something resembling an iPhone in a 350-year-old painting during a visit to Amsterdam. That piece also sparked much debate, but without any concrete evidence.
Despite intriguing theories, most historians agree that there is no evidence of time travel. However, the case shows how modern technology can change the way we see and interpret art from the past.
