Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness
Artist: The Smashing Pumpkins
Year: 1995
Description: The cover of Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness, designed by John Craig and featuring a painting by illustrator John Collier, is a lush collage of Victorian romanticism and surreal fantasy. At its center, a celestial woman floats in a starry cosmos, seated within a golden star — her face a composite drawn from Renaissance portraits. The deep blues and warm golds evoke both wonder and melancholy, reflecting the album’s sprawling emotional range. The artwork feels timeless yet otherworldly, merging the antique and the cosmic to visualize Billy Corgan’s vision of beauty, decay, and infinite yearning. It’s not just a cover — it’s a portal into the band’s grand, dreamlike universe.