At many points in its 90-year history (check out our 90th birthday celebration — and vote for the cheesiest TIME cover), TIME has offered up its iconic red border as a canvas, and asked renowned artists to illustrate the top stories of the day. From the striking Roy Lichtenstein pop art that accompanied a June 21, 1968 cover story on “The Gun in America” (see below) to Marc Chagall’s self-portrait that began our July 30, 1965 issue, readers have become accustomed to seeing cover images that have been painted, sculpted, collaged and transformed by some of the world’s most visionary talents.
From Man Ray to Shepard Fairey, we look back at the artists who have graced our cover. The most colorful covers, from the past 90 years:
December 14, 1936: Surrealist Salvador Dali
Artist: Man Ray
April 12, 1937:
Virginia Woolf
Artist: Man Ray
May 7, 1945: Adolf Hitler
Artist: Boris Artzybasheff
January 5, 1959: Man of the Year: Charles DeGaulle
Artist: Bernard Buffet
April 6, 1962:
Sophia Loren
Artist: J. Bouche
January 3, 1964: Man of the Year: Martin Luther King Jr.
Artist: Robert Vickrey
January 10, 1964: R. Buckminster Fuller
Artist: Boris Artzybasheff
February 28, 1964: Thelonious Monk
Artist: Boris Chaliapin
April 24, 1964: Lenin
Artist: Ben Shahn
January 29, 1965, Today’s Teenagers
Artist: Andy Warhol
March 5, 1965: Jeanne Moreau
Artist: Rufino Tamayo
March 19, 1965: Martin Luther King
Artist: Ben Shahn
April 16, 1965: Rudolf Nureyev
Artist: Sidney Nolan
July 30, 1965: Marc Chagall
Artist: Marc Chagall
March 3, 1967: Playboy’s Hugh Hefner
Artist: Marisol
September 22, 1967: The Beatles
Artist: Gerald Scarfe
December 8, 1967: Bonnie and Clyde
Artist: Robert Rauschenberg
Artist: Roy Lictenstein
June 21, 1968: The Gun in America
Artist: Roy Lichtenstein
June 27, 1969: Is Prince Charles Necessary?
Artist: Peter Max
July 11, 1969: The Sex Explosion
Artist: Dennis Wheeler
August 8, 1969: John Wayne
Artist: Harry Jackson
October 31, 1969: The Homosexual in America
Artist: Fred Burrell
November 28, 1969: Raquel Welch
Artist: Frank Gallo
February 16, 1970: Jane, Henry and Peter: The Flying Fondas
Artist: Andy Warhol
April 6, 1970: Black America 1970
Artist: Romare Bearden
January 3, 1972: Man of the Year: Richard Nixon
Artist: Stanley Glaubach
December 18, 1972: Eating May Not Be Good For You
Artist: Stanley Glaubach
May 31, 1976: McCartney Comes Back
Artist: Peter Max
November 29, 1976: Rauschenberg by Rauschenberg
Artist: Robert Rauschenberg
October 18, 1982: John Updike
Artist: Alex Katz
January 3, 1983: Machine of the Year: The Computer
Artist: George Segal
March 19, 1984: Michael Jackson
Artist: Andy Warhol
April 1, 1985: Lee Iacocca
Artist: Andy Warhol
September 29, 1986: Crime Boss John Gotti
Artist: Andy Warhol
March 30, 1987: America’s Agenda
Artist: Robert Rauschenberg
November 1, 1990: Women: The Road Ahead
Artist: Susan Moore
March 16, 1992: Jay Leno
Artist: Al Hirschfeld
December 29, 2008: Person of the Year: Obama
Artist: Shepard Fairey
December 24, 2011: Person of the Year: The Protestor
Artist: Shepard Fairey