Art that moves

BMW fuses sophisticated technology with groundbreaking work from the world's leading visual artists to make moving masterpieces

The first BMW Art Car was born in 1975 when French racecar driver Herve Poulain invited American artist Alexander Calder to paint on a BMW 3.0 CSL, which he then raced in the Le Mans endurance race that year.

"One day, I said to myself, now is the time to do something grandly communicative and heroic and unite my two passions by having my racing cars painted by the leading artists of the time," Poulain said once in regard to the source of his inspiration.

Bringing together the worlds of art and motor sports, the rolling sculpture received an enthusiastic welcome and led BMW to create the Art Car Collection.

Since then, nearly 20 artists from all around the world have contributed to the special diversity and aesthetics of the collection. The big names include Frank Stella, Roy Lichtenstein, Andy Warhol, Ernst Fuchs and Jenny Holzer. The art forms used in the cars range from painting, graphic arts, sculpture and design.

The most recent BMW Art Car was created in 2010 by Jeff Koons on a M3 GT2.

The home of all BMW Art Cars is the BMW Museum in Munich, and many of them have been exhibited in prestigious museums around the world.