Bianca Bagnarelli’s “Deadline”

On the cover of the year’s first issue, the artist evokes a moment suspended between the old and the new.
A person pauses from working at their desk and looks out the window at fireworks over a city skyline.

Bianca Bagnarelli has been contributing to The New Yorker since 2016, but the image she drew for the January 1 & 8, 2024, issue, capturing the stormy feelings many of us have about our working lives, marks the first time her art has appeared on the cover. “I often work during the holidays. At first, I think I’m taking advantage of small pockets of time in which the world stops,” Bagnarelli says. “But then I realize I’m missing out on all the fun, and it can be bittersweet.”

Detail from Bagnarelli’s illustration for Weike Wang’s “Notes on Work,” published on February 1, 2022.

For more covers celebrating the New Year, see below:

“January 1, 1944,” by Peter Arno

“December 31, 1949,” by Mary Petty

“Nighthawks New Year,” by Owen Smith

Find Bianca Bagnarelli’s covers, cartoons, and more at the Condé Nast Store.