Since 1975, with the help of some of the biggest names in contemporary art, BMW has been providing some of its most iconic models with an injection of colour. The concept of the Art Cars was started by auctioneer Herve Poulain, himself a former racing driver before becoming Vice President of Artcurial, in collaboration with BMW and Jochen Neerpasch, Director of Motorsports for BMW at the time.
In 40 years, no fewer than 17 artists have immortalised the most beautiful BMW's Alexander Calder (BMW 3.0 CSL, 1975), Frank Stella (BMW 3.0 CSL, 1976), Roy Lichtenstein (BMW 320i Turbo, 1977), Andy Warhol (BMW M1 Group 4, 1979), Ernst Fuchs (BMW 635 CSi, 1982), Robert Rauschenberg (BMW 635 CSi, 1986), Michael Jagamara Nelson (BMW M3, 1989), Ken Done (BMW M3 Group A, 1989), Matazo Kayama (BMW 535i, 1990), Cesar Manrique (BMW 730i, 1990), A. R. Penck (BMW Z1, 1991), Esther Mahlangu (BMW 525i, 1991), Sandro Chia (BMW M3 GTR, 1992), David Hockney (BMW 850 CSi, 1995), Jenny Holzer (BMW V12 LMR, 1999), Olafur Eliasson (BMW H2R, 2007) and Jeff Koons (BMW M3 GT2, 2010).
Jochen Neerpasch, one of the founding fathers of the BMW Art Car Collection.
In honour of this anniversary, the Centre Pompidou in Paris, during its retrospective on the career of Jeff Koons from Feb 4 to March 16, hosted his version of the BMW M3 GT2. This marked the car's return to the very place where he had unveiled and signed it in 2010, shortly before it took part in the 78th edition of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, a race it did not finish.
Just this past weekend, that model joined the first four BMW Art Cars, those by Alexander Calder, Frank Stella, Roy Lichtenstein and Andy Warhol, at the Concorso d'Eleganza Villa d'Este on the shores of Lake Como in Italy.
BMW has not yet specified the dates of the Art Cars exhibits for New York, Miami and Shanghai.
