PSR J1048-5832 is a young radio-pulsar that has recently been detected in {gamma}-rays with Fermi, and also in X-rays with Chandra and XMM-Newton. It powers a compact pulsar wind nebula visible in X-rays and is in many ways similar to the Vela pulsar. We present deep optical observations made with the ESO Very Large Telescope to search for optical counterparts of the pulsar and its nebula and to explore their multi-wavelength emission properties. The data were obtained in the V and R bands and were compared with archival data in other spectral domains.