Storm Thorgerson, Pink Floyd album artist, dies: A look at 16 albums

Influential English album cover designer Storm Thorgerson, whose album covers over a 45-year career included work for Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin and dozens more, has died after a battle with cancer, his family has announced.

The designer’s work individually and with the design group Hipgnosis (which he co-founded) helped define the visuals of rock starting in the late 1960s, when album covers were the primary canvas of music and a catchy 12-by-12-inch image could reach an audience of millions.

His striking, surrealist-inspired eye candy is immediately recognizable, most notably through his work over the decades with Pink Floyd.

Album art by Storm Thorgerson

Thorgerson, who was 69, was responsible for the rainbow prism of “Dark Side of the Moon,” the burning gentleman shaking hands on the cover of “Wish You Were Here,” the band portrait on “Ummagumma” and a dozen more.

Led Zeppelin’s “In Through the Out Door”; Peter Gabriel’s first three solo albums (each a different portrait of the artist); “Absolution,” an early record by Muse -- all featured Thorgerson’s playfully intense imagery.

The volume of classics is overwhelming, but equally fascinating is his work from the ‘90s and ‘00s, which includes gems by Ween, the Cranberries, the Mars Volta, Phish, Umphrey’s McGee and others.

Check out some of Thorgerson’s most intriguing covers above (and turn the captions on to read about each one).

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