BMW Art Cars

Rolling sculptures: a stunning collection of BMW racecars designed by 20 different artists, from John Baldessari to Julie Mehretu

Ever since its invention, artists have been examining the automobile. Since 1975, the BMW Art Car program has commissioned contemporary artists to design a car. Alexander Calder’s BMW 3.0 CSL was the first in the series, brought to life by Hervé Poulain, lover of auto racing and works of art, in collaboration with BMW’s head of motorsports, Jochen Neerpasch. Since then, 19 more artists have designed BMW models, and these ＂rolling sculptures＂ have proved themselves not only in museums but also on the racetrack at Le Mans.
Expanding upon the long unavailable 2014 and 2019 editions of the same title, this book presents 20 artists who have designed BMWs, including John Baldessari, Alexander Calder, Sandro Chia, Ken Done, Olafur Eliasson, Cao Fei, Ernst Fuchs, David Hockney, Jenny Holzer, Michael Jagamara Nelson, Matazo Kayama, Jeff Koons, Roy Lichtenstein, Esther Mahlangu, César Manrique, A.R. Penck, Robert Rauschenberg, Frank Stella and Andy Warhol. This volume has an additional chapter which chronicles the latest artist-designed car in the BMW Art Car collection, by Julie Mehretu, which was unveiled in 2024.