Lifestyle

These beautiful BMWs are actual pieces of art

Aaron Brown

2016-04-13T19:05:00Z

For over 40 years, BMW has partnered with famous artists to turn race cars into works of art.

The program, officially called BMW's Art Cars, began in 1975 and was spearheaded by Herve Poulain, a 35-year-old French race car driver and auctioneer whose two passions in life were art and racing.

While Poulain was just an amateur racer, he aspired to race in the 1975 24 Hours of Le Mans, which is an annual 24 hour race hosted in France each June.

Poulain managed to convince BMW to sponsor him and he also managed to persuade the American artist Alexander Calder to paint the car before the race.

That car was a 3.0 CSL and the artwork was truly a masterpiece.

Poulain raced his colorful #93 BMW race car in the 24 hour race, but the car only lasted seven hours before it retired due to a damaged driveshaft.

After the #93 car was built, 16 other cars designed by various world-class artists came out of the BMW Art Car program.

Check them out.

Alexander Calder's 1975 BMW 3.0 CSL Art Car.

This 3.0 CSL was designed by American artist Frank Stella's and raced at the 1976 24 Hours of Le Mans. The design was supposed to resemble a blueprint.

On Roy Lichetenstein's 1977 320i Group 5 Art Car, the designs are supposed to represent roads, sunlight, and the sky.

Andy Warhol's 1979 M1 Art Car was painted by hand in less than a half hour.

Ernst Fuchs called his 1982 635 CSi Art Car "Fire Fox on a Hare Hunt."

Robert Rauschenberg's 635CSI Art Car was first shown off to the world at the BMW Gallery in New York in 1986. At that unveiling he said “I think mobile museums are great. For me, this car is a dream come true.”

Michael Jagamara Nelson used the aboriginal Papunya art form to paint his 1989 M3 Group A Art Car.

The 1989 Ken Done M3 Group A Art Car was painted to represent the artist's birthplace, Australia, and the beaches and different scenery that exists there.

Matazo Kayama's theme for his 1990 BMW 535i Art Car was “Snow, Moon and Flowers.”

Cesar Manrique tried to emphasize a sensation of speed through his work on the outside of the 1990 730i Art Car.

A.R. Penck is famous for his "Stick Men" designs which can also be seen on his 1991 Z1 Art Car.

Esther Mahlangu was the first woman to design a BMW art car. Hers was this 1991 525i. The designs on the car were influenced by artwork created by South African Ndebele tribe people.

Sandro Chio painted his 1992 3 Series racing Art Car to be "Like a mirror, it confronts the people who look at it.”

David Hockney's 1995 850csi Art Car was designed to give the car a see-through feel. If you look at the side, you can see the outline of a driver and a steering wheel, and in the backseat, a Dachshund leaning up against the seat.

Jenny Holzer's 1999 V12 LMR Art Car stays true to BMW's traditional blue and white color scheme. Lettering on the car is reflective so that during the day, blue from the sky paints the words to match the classic BMW coloring.

Jeff Koons' 2010 M3 GT2 racing Art Car raced in the 2010 24 Hours of Le Mans. Koons wanted to reflect the amount of power the car puts out through his art.

Cars Transportation Arts & Culture