BMW is celebrating 50 years of its iconic BMW Art Car series with a world tour that will see the twenty cars cover 15 countries and five continents, kicking off in Europe and Asia.
Starting next week the cars created by Roy Lichtenstein, Andy Warhol, Robert Rauschenberg, David Hockney and Jeff Koons will be on display at the Museum of Applied Arts and the SPARK Art Fair in Vienna, while the latest and 20th car – the BMW M Hybrid V8 by renowned American painter Julie Mehretu – will embark on an Asian tour and be displayed at Art Basel in Hong Kong on 28-30 March.
BMW says that "important museums and platforms for classic automobiles" are also celebrating the anniversary, with the 13th car by Sandro Chia being showcased at the classic car festival Concorso d’Eleganza Villa d’Este at Lake Como in May, while in July and August, the Louwman Museum in The Hague will present eight of the cars in a special exhibition.
"The BMW Art Car Collection celebrates 50 years of artistic freedom and visionary design," said Ilka Horstmeier, Board Member for Human Resources and Real Estate at BMW Group.
"The 20 vehicles have become international icons, telling stories of society, technology and performance. Our commitment to art and culture is long-term, we are continuously developing the collection and bringing art and automotive culture together in a unique way."
The first Art Car series began in 1975 when French auctioneer and racing driver Hervé Poulain first approached Jochen Neerpasch, founder and Head of BMW Motorsport, with a plan to enter a BMW with a livery designed by an artist in the legendary Le Mans endurance race.
The car, BMW 3.0 CSL, had its livery designed by American sculptor Alexander Calder, and was initially intended as a one-time collaboration between the artist and BMW, but even though the car retired from the race after seven hours, it became a huge crowd favourite, prompting BMW to continue the project.
In close collaboration with legendary New York gallerist Leo Castelli, BMW Art Cars by American artists such as Frank Stella, Roy Lichtenstein and Andy Warhol followed and all were raced by Poulain and the BMW team at Le Mans.
From 1982 to 1992, the collection opened up to artists from other parts of the world, shifting from exclusively racing car liveries to also including standard production models, with Ernst Fuchs, Robert Rauschenberg, Michael Jagamara Nelson, Ken Done, Matazo Kayama, César Manrique, A. R. Penck, Esther Mahlangu, Sandro Chia and David Hockney all contributing designs.
In 1999, BMW returned Art Cars to motorsport with the BMW V12 LMR prototype and American conceptual artist Jenny Holzer. Eight years later, Olafur Eliasson designed "Your mobile expectations: BMW H₂R Project" based on a record-breaking hydrogen race car.
Jeff Koons, John Baldessari, Cao Fei, and Julie Mehretu have all added to the racing car heritage over the past 15 years.
BMW calls the cars "rolling sculptures" and, from Alexander Calder’s first-ever Art Car to Julie Mehretu’s latest, says they offer "a cross-section of art history over the past five decades: minimalism, pop art, magical realism, abstraction, conceptual art and digital art are all represented."
The BMW Museum, the home of the cars when they are not travelling the world, is also honouring the collection by combining two anniversaries in an exhibition: the 3 Series is also celebrating its 50th anniversary in 2025, and starting 16 June, the museum will showcase a historical overview of the 3 Series, including the M3 Art Cars by Sandro Chia, Michael Jagamara Nelson, and Ken Done.
The tour will cover South Africa, Austria, Hong Kong, China, the United Arab Emirates, Switzerland, Taiwan, Slovakia, Sweden, Italy, Germany, the Netherlands and Turkey in 2025, with BMW saying that the schedule is "still evolving" and will continue through most of 2026 with further stops planned in Belgium, China, Germany, Kazakhstan, Latin America, Morocco, South Africa, Spain, Switzerland and the USA.
There's no word if any of the cars will head our way, although Australia was mentioned as a planned stop in 2026.
