The cover art was inspired by the 1793 painting "The Death of Marat" by Jacques-Louis David. The photo of Barnes was taken at Roger Langford's apartment in Elizabeth Bay, where the video for "Cheap Wine" was later shot. Barnes had purchased the headband in Japan, and years later discovered he had worn it upside-down. Walker said, "I got the idea of the bathtub and the Marat/Sade ripoff. I knew I wanted to fill the whole thing up with certain flavoured bric-a-brac. Jenny spent a whole week getting the bric-a-brac together out of the antique shops and second-hand book shops. There was a certain list of books I wanted but she came back with some wonderful stuff I would never have thought of." Elsewhere, Walker said, "We knew Greg Noakes was the guy to do the photography, because he's been doing wonderful photography for us for years. After the photography, I had to go overseas, and Phillip Mortlock, Jenny, and Rod Willis were in charge of putting it all together."