The artwork for this deck was created in 1909 by Pamela Colman Smith under the direction of Arthur Edward Waite.

A unique feature of the Rider-Waite deck and one of the principal reasons for its enduring popularity is that all the cards depict full scenes with figures and symbols. Prior to the Rider-Waite Tarot, the pip cards of almost all tarot decks were marked with only the arrangement of the suit signs - swords, wands, cups and pentacles, or coins. The pictorial images on this deck allow interpretations without the need to repeatedly consulting the explanatory text.