Alexander Calder’s 3.0 CSL Art Car. Photos courtesy of BMW AG.
If you witnessed it when it happened, you were undoubtedly shocked: On the grid at Le Mans in 1975 was a works BMW race car, a 3.0 CSL, turned into a palette for the modern artist Alexander Calder. It created a sensation. The BMW didn’t win at the Sarthe, but it still captured the public’s imagination like perhaps no other racing car of 1975. It also began a tradition of art cars at BMW that has lasted right till now, and whose 40 years are being marked in special fashion.
Roy Lichtenstein’s 320i Art Car.
BMW has so far displayed its rolling sculptures this year during 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. BMW assures that as the year continues, additional showings will take place in New York City, Shanghai and Miami, with dates to be announced. A total of 17 artists have donated their talents to create this unique form of cultural ambassadorship since 1975.
Frank Stella’s 3.0 CSL Art Car.
As a commemoration of BMW’s history in racing and vehicular art, BMW is marketing a book first produced last year by Hatje Cantz, a 200-page history of the art cars, their history and development. To order it, visit the author’s website, HatjeCantz.de/BMW-Art-Cars-5319-1.html.
Here’s a gallery covering some of the art cars produced to date.
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