The BMW Art Car World Tour is a historic exhibition program organised by the BMW Group across five continents, celebrating 50 years of the brand’s cultural and artistic commitment worldwide. After stops in Hong Kong, Shanghai, Dubai, Stockholm and the Hague, the largest exhibition project in the history of the BMW Art Cars collection continued its journey to Belgium.
The BMW Art Cars collection, currently comprising 20 cars, reflects the evolution of art over the past five decades: from minimalism, pop art, realism and abstract to digital art. The mastermind behind the Art Car series was Hervé Poulain, who commissioned famous artists to design liveries for his race cars. For his entries at Le Mans, he brought together the most iconic artists of his era to provide a stylish outfit for his BMW race cars. The early art cars wore liveries decorated by famous artists, like Andy Warhol (later, the project evolved under BMW management).
Later on, BMW continued the art car projects on its own, and many of these vehicles were developed as l’art pour l’art exhibits with no intention of racing them. Since then, BMW has kept some of these cars at its Munich headquarters, and the first four art cars (those procured by Monsieur Poulain) and the E91 coupé painted by Jeff Koons are part of BMW World’s permanent exhibition when they are not on tour. In addition to BMW World, we got to see Art Cars at IAA Munich 2021 and in Luxembourg.
The selection always varied and at this year’s Zoute we got to see a couple of cars among the 9 cars exhibited, that we did not get to see. In addition the Pavilion also showcased
The first car in this exhibition is the very first art car and a personal favourite of ours, designed by Alexander Calder. He was most noted for his abstract mobiles, hailed by critics as the most innovative American sculptures of the 20th century. This was the very first of the cars driven by Monsieur Poulain, and has been part of every Art Car exhibition we attended.
The BMW 3.0 CSL, with which Alexander Calder laid the foundation for the Art Car Collection in 1975, was also one of his final works of art before his death. As with his sculptures, he used intense colours and gracefully sweeping surfaces for this car, generously distributed over the wings, bonnet and roof. Poulain’s car did not finish the race, but still entered posterity by launching the Art Car series.
The second car is the white 1976 BMW 3.0 CSL with a livery designed by Frank Stella. The American artist created a black-and-white design inspired by an oversized graph paper background. Cut-out lines across the bodywork intensify the car’s geometric look.
The last art piece on that side is the 12th car in the series and is based on a 1991 E34 BMW 5 Series. It was decorated by South African artist Esther Mahlangu, the first woman and first black artist of the series. Her art is called the Ndebele pattern, a tradition passed on from generation to generation among women.
This car was a pure art project with no racing aspirations. We already noted the strong contrast between the South African ethnographic calligraphy and the expensive vehicle, which was the yuppie’s ultimate car of choice at that time.
The first novelty for us at Zoute was Art Car Nr14, a 1995 BMW 850 CSi painted by David Hockney. In 1995, BMW employed British-born artist David Hockney to place his signature on their flagship coupé, the BMW 850CSi. Hockney drew inspiration from the car’s innermost depths, reflecting the technical finesse of the Bavarians. The result was an automobile whose contents were turned inside out. These references included the stylised suction vent on the bonnet and the contours of a driver on the door.
The next car on the other side of the pavilion is Art Car nr 10, a 1990 E32 BMW 7 Series, decorated by César Manrique. The livery is inspired by elements of nature, with bright colours reminiscent of the Spanish subtropical island of Lanzarote. The black component of the design stands for lava rock of the Canary Islands, green for the rainforest, and red for life.
In the middle of the line-up is Jeff Koons’ 2010 BMW M3 GT2, raced by Andy Priaulx, Dirk Müller and Dirk Werner. Mr Koons is an American artist recognised for his work dealing with popular culture and everyday objects. He is also credited with two world-record auction sales, the highest selling for USD 91.1 million (!!!) in 2019. His marriage and (art) work with Hungarian porn star Cicciolina also polished his fame (too : ) ).
The last car next to the exit is also the latest Art Car. BMW’s 20th official Art Car gives the Bavarians a stylish entry into the World Endurance Championship.
The BMW M Hybrid V8 is the Bavarian brand’s entry in the hypercar class of the World Endurance Championship. The sports prototype racing car was designed by BMW’s M division and built at Dallara, and debuted at the 2023 24 Hours of Daytona. The pattern was designed by Ethiopian American contemporary visual artist Julie Mehretu. For the 20th BMW Art Car, she transformed her painting “Everywhen” into a three-dimensional gallery. Le Mans Art Cars have a long history with BMW, and this car fills some really big shoes, though the results are still keeping us waiting.
In addition to the main pavilion hosting six cars, the main square next to the Zoute Gallery showcased two other Art Cars.
One of them was the 1986 BMW 635 CSi, designed by Robert Rauschenberg. Rauschenberg used the works of other artists, processed by photographic techniques. This BMW is covered in black and white mosaics of paintings and artworks that form narrative elements composing a virtual story for the observer to behold.
The other one was Art Car 09, a 1990 BMW 535i designed by Matazo Kayama. He used airbrush techniques based on typical Japanese techniques such as Kirigane (metalcut) and Arare (foil printing).
