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Famous Art Homages on New Yorker Magazine Covers
I watch a lot of art documentaries, and I’ve got a stack of art history books that never seems to shrink. So when I spotted an older issue of The New Yorker that looked like a cheeky homage to Botticelli’s Birth of Venus, I couldn’t help but wonder—how many other covers have been modeled after the greats? Exactly one rabbit hole later, I had gathered a whole stack of them. It felt like uncovering a hidden gallery tucked inside the magazine’s archive, and I figured—why keep that fun to myself?
Classic Paintings Reimagined on New Yorker Magazine Covers
What you’ll see here are covers that borrow from some of the most recognizable works in art history—Van Gogh’s swirls, Botticelli’s goddess, Hopper’s late-night diners, even Magritte’s bowler hats. Each one shows how The New Yorker has long treated its covers like miniature canvases, open to reinterpretation and play.
*Side note: In researching for this piece, I came across this fascinating video about Hokusai’s “Great Wave”. I hope you find it as interesting as I did. Check it out!
List of New Yorker Covers Inspired by Famous Artists
Below are the covers I found—each one a clever homage to a famous work of art. Some are obvious, some are subtle, but all of them bring a little art history to the front page.
Did You Know? Some Fun Facts About These Works
The Starry Night’s swirls match the physics of turbulence—Vincent unknowingly painted natural laws that scientists would only describe decades later.
The Great Wave is part of Thirty-Six Views of Mount Fuji; Fuji is the real star, framed in each print. Hokusai even extended the series by ten more due to demand.
Hopper’s Nighthawks diner scene was modeled with Hopper himself posing as the men, and his wife Josephine as the woman.
Final Thoughts on The New Yorker’s Art-Inspired Covers
That’s the fun of these covers: they’re not only cartoons or clever jokes, they’re small acts of art history nerdery (is that even a word?). Mini masterpieces speaking back to the originals. Spotting them feels like stepping into a conversation between The New Yorker and the canon, and it makes flipping through old issues feel a bit like walking through a museum.
