35 years of painted racing machines…

from BMW

The concept for the BMW art cars was introduced by Hervé Poulain, an auctioneer and ardent racing driver from France. Poulain was searching for a link between art and cars and he asked his friend and renowned artist Alexander Calder to paint a rolling canvas on the BMW 3.0 CSL that he would race in the 1975 Le Mans endurance race. Poulain’s 3.0 CSL was the first car to create a symbiosis between the world of art and the world of motorsport. Prompted by enormous enthusiasm for this work of art on wheels, BMW then decided to put its brilliant idea of establishing the Art Car Collection into practice.

(BMW DRIVES)

the artists: Alexander Calder 1975, Frank Stella 1976, Roy Lichtenstein 1977, Andy Warhol 1979, Ernst Fuchs 1982, R. Rauschenberg 1986, M.J. Nelson 1989, Ken Done 1989, Matazo Kayama 1990, Cesar Manrique 1990, A.R. Penck 1991, Esther Mahlangu 1991, Sandro Chia 1992, David Hockney 1995, Jenny Holzer 1999, Olafur Eliasson 2007, Robin Rhode 2009, Jeff Koons 2010