Mati Klarwein's Afro-psychedelic painting depicts two Black faces in profile surrounded by swirling organic forms — flowers, waves, fire, and cosmic phenomena — a visual match for the album that essentially invented jazz fusion.
The cover painting, titled "Mati," was created by Abdul Mati Klarwein, a German-born, Israeli-raised painter of Afro-psychedelic art who had previously created the cover for Santana's Abraxas. The image depicts two Black faces in profile — one facing left, one facing right — rendered in vivid, almost hallucinatory colors. They are surrounded by swirling organic forms that suggest flowers, waves, body parts, fire, and cosmic phenomena. A pair of hands clasp together at the center-bottom of the image.
Klarwein's painting style drew from a wide range of influences: Surrealism, African art, Hindu iconography, psychedelic culture, and his own extensive travels through Africa and Asia. His technique involved meticulous, layered oil painting with hyperreal detail embedded within surreal compositions. Each element of the Bitches Brew cover rewards close examination — faces emerge from the swirling backgrounds, and symbolic elements reveal themselves gradually.
Miles Davis was deeply invested in his album artwork and actively sought out visual artists whose work matched his musical vision. He had seen Klarwein's paintings and commissioned him directly. Davis wanted the cover to signal that this was not a traditional jazz album — it was something entirely new, a fusion of jazz improvisation, rock energy, and electronic textures that had no precedent. The psychedelic, boundary-dissolving quality of Klarwein's art perfectly captured the music's spirit.
The title itself was controversial — Columbia Records was nervous about having the word "Bitches" on the cover of a major release. Davis insisted, and the label relented. The title reflected Davis's rebellious, confrontational personality and his refusal to conform to expectations.
The album is now regarded as one of the most important and influential recordings in music history, effectively inventing jazz fusion. Klarwein's cover has been cited as a masterpiece of Afrofuturist art — a term that wouldn't be coined for another two decades. The painting's fusion of African imagery, psychedelic aesthetics, and cosmic themes anticipated entire artistic movements. Klarwein went on to paint covers for numerous other albums, but the Bitches Brew cover remains his most famous work. He passed away in 2002.