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40 years of BMW Art Cars in pictures

BMW is mounting a travelling exhibition of its Art Cars to celebrate their 40th anniversary

Gerry Malloy
Published: May 28, 2015, 11:10 AM
Updated: June 4, 2015, 4:27 PM

40 Years of BMW Art Cars

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Birth of the BMW Art Car

Almost 40 years ago, a BMW 3.0 CSL, number 93, lined up for the start of the 1975 Le Mans 24-hour race. It was driven by Sam Posey, Hervé Poulain and Jean Guichet and it failed to finish the race. But it has become almost as famous as if it had won for it established a tradition that has continued for 40 years. It was the first BMW Art Car.The idea was the brainchild of the car's French driver and art enthusiast Hervé Poulain. With the support  of BMW Motorsport Director, Jochen Neerpasch, he asked his artist friend Alexander Calder to apply his creative talents to the paint scheme for the race car. Voila, the first BMW Art Car was born – and it became an instant crowd favourite. ▲

Where cars and art meet

Since then, additions to the BMW Art Car Collection have been made at irregular intervals, with unique works of art from 17 internationally renowned artists, including Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein, David Hockney and Jeff Koons.“The BMW Art Cars provide an exciting landmark at the interface where cars, technology, design, art and motor sport meet,” said Maximilian Schöberl, Senior Vice President, Corporate and Governmental Affairs, BMW Group. The company is celebrating the 40th anniversary of the first Art Car with a travelling exhibition of the cars that will include Europe, North America and Asia.Here's a look at some of the Art Car highlights from those 40 years. ▲

Place of honour

The number 93 original Art Car by Alexander Calder now holds a place of honour in the BMW Museum in Munich. An American, living in Paris, Calder was primarily a sculptor but also an accomplished painter of abstracts. Prior to the Art Car project, in 1972, Braniff International Airways commissioned him to paint a full-size Douglas DC-8 airliner as a "flying canvas."  It was equally as dramatic as the Art Car. ▲

Godfather of the Art Car

Hervé Poulain, Godfather of the BMW Art Car Collection posed in front of the 17th BMW Art Car, holding a miniature of the first BMW Art Car by Alexander Calder in his hands. ▲

3.0 CSL Art Cars

An Art Car exhibition at the BMW Museum in Munich included a pair of BMW 3.0 CSLs – the first two Art Cars. The Frank Stella Art Car, 1976 car is on the left  and the Alexander Calder car on the right. ▲

BMW M3 GT2 Art car by Jeff Koons

Controversial American artist Jeff Koons was responsible for this 2010 BMW M3 GT2 Art Car. Some critics deride Koons's art as kitsch but one of his pieces set the record for the most expensive sale of work by a living artist ($58.4-million US) in 2013. ▲

BMW M3 GT2 Art car by Jeff Koons

Supermodel and actress Karolína Kurková joined artist Jeff Koons for the North American unveiling of his BMW M3 GT2 Art Car in the Miami Beach Botanical Gardens as part of Art Basel in December, 2013. ▲

1979 BMW M1 Art Car by Andy Warhol

Andy Warhol was a magazine and advertising illustrator who became a controversial icon of the 1960s pop art movement. His "Campbell's Soup Cans" and "Gold Marilyn Monroe" paintings made him famous worldwide. ▲

Art Car #4 by Andy Warhol

BMW Art Car #4, a 1979 BMW M1 was painted by iconic American pop artist Andy Warhol. It was also displayed in the VIP lounge at Art Basel Miami Beach in December, 2013. ▲

Warhol loved the car

Warhol painted the 1979 BMW M1 Art car with a brush. "I love the car. It has turned out better than the artwork," he said. ▲

1986 BMW 635 CSi Art Car by Robert Rauschenberg

The sixth BMW Art Car, a 1986 BMW 635 CSi,  was created by New York City painter and sculptor Robert Rauschenberg. He was awarded the National Medal of Arts in 1993 and the Leonardo da Vinci World Award of Arts in 1995 in recognition of his more than 40 years making art. ▲

1976 BMW 3.0 CSL Art Car by Frank Stella

The second Art Car in the series was a 1976  BMW 3.0 CSL that was turned into a graph-paper backround by American artist Frank Stella. "The graph paper is what it is, a graph, but when it’s morphed over the car’s forms it becomes interesting, and adapting the drawing to the racing car’s forms is interesting," he said. "Theoretically it’s like painting on a shaped canvas." ▲

1976 BMW 3.0 CSL Art Car by Frank Stella

Stella's artwork evolved from conventional expressions of objects and things to making the painting itself the object of attention. His fondness for blacks and whites and geometric forms is clearly evident in his BMW Art Car. ▲

1991 BMW 525i Art Car by Esther Mahlangu

On display in London in 2012, South African Artist Esther Mahlangu's  BMW 525i Art Car design references patterns found in the clothing and jewelry of her Ndebele people. The colorful and geometric patterns she uses are typical of her work. It's  tradition of her native people for women to paint the exterior of houses. ▲

Esther Mahlangu with her 1991 BMW 525i Art Car

Mahlangu was the first non-Western and the first female artist to design one of the BMW Art Cars. Her car was exhibited at the National Museum of Women in the Arts in Washington, DC in 1994. ▲

1999 BMW V12 LMR Art Car by Jenny Holzer

BMW V12 LMR Art Car by Jenny Holzer was one of three Le Mans prototype racers built by BMW for the famous 24-hour race in 1999. The Ar car was withdrawn before the start but one of its sister cars claimed the victory – the only overall win ever for BMW in the classic contest. ▲

1999 BMW V12 LMR Art Car by Jenny Holzer

Jenny Holzer is an American conceptual artist whose work includes large-scale public displays such as billboard advertisements, projections on buildings and other architectural structures, and illuminated electronic displays. The main focus of her work is the use of words and ideas in art – a theme apparent in her Art Car. ▲

1995 BMW 850 CSi Art Car by David Hockney

The 14th BMW Art car was a 1995 BMW 850 CSi created by British-born, American pop artist David Hockney, whose aim was to portray the innermost depths of the car on the outside, albeit in fanciful stylized form. Recognizable elements a include a driver's image on the left door and a dog in the rear seat area. ▲

1992 BMW 3 Series racing prototype Art Car by Sandro Chia

Italian-born artist Sandro Chia, who lives in London, New York and Tuscany, painted this 1992 BMW 3 Series racing Art Car to represent the stares of observers as if they were looking in a mirror. "Like a mirror, it confronts the people who look at it," he said. Chi is one of the most important artists in the Italian “Transavanguardia,” or neo-expressionist, movement. ▲

1982 BMW 635i CSi Art Car by Ernst Fuchs

Austrian multi-media artist Ernst Fuchs calls his creation on a 1982 BMW 635i CSi Art Car 'Firefox on Harehunt'. He says it represents a hare racing across a motorway at night and leaping over a burning car. "It tells me its colors, I read them in its lines and shape, I hear its speedy call and can already see the handsome hare leaping through flames of love, driving away fears." If he says so! ▲

BMW Art Car exhibition at the BMW Museum

BMW maintains a permanent Art Car exhibition at the BMW Museum at its Munich headquarters. ▲

Travelling Exhibition of BMW Art Cars

The company is mounting a travelling exhibition of BMW Art Cars to celebrate the 40th anniversary of their inauguration. Celebrations began with exhibitions in Hong Kong, at the Centre Pompidou, the BMW Museum and the Concorso d’Eleganza at Lake Como, where the first four BMW Art Cars by Alexander Calder, Frank Stella, Roy Lichtenstein and Andy Warhol, plus the M3 GT2 created by Jeff Koons, were all on display. Further exhibitions are planned for later in 2015 in New York, Miami and Shanghai. ▲
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