The seven coolest designs from BMW's Art Car collection

French race car driver and art aficionado Hervé Poulain along with then BMW Motorsport Director Jochen Neerpasch commissioned artist Alexander Calder to makeover a car to race it on the world stage. The BMW Art Car Collection was born.

Since 1975, a total of 17 international artists have created a BMW Art Car using a contemporary BMW as their canvas. These world-renowned artists include Jeff Koons, Roy Lichtenstein, Andy Warhol, as well as Australian artist Ken Done. BMW Art Cars are not only for display at the BMW museum in Munich but also travel internationally to exhibitions and museums across Asia, Europe and North America.

We’ve gone through the catalogue of these unique, creative and out of this world wacky artfully covered BMWs and have compiled a list of our favourites.

In 1975, the first BMW to be transformed into a work of art was the BMW 3.0 CSL by US artist Alexander Calder. Calder who traditionally created sculptures and mobiles took on the challenge and formal structure of a car and transformed it into his own artistic style.

Just like his sculptures and mobiles, he used bright, intensive colours pained in broad swathes across the surface of the car which he distributed over the wings, bonnet and roof. The use of primary colours set across individual elements of the car’s structure creates an illusion of movement even when the car is stationary.

Back in the mid ‘70s, the fact that a car was being presented as a work of art was quite a unique proposition. Add to the fact that the art car was then entered into the famed 24-hour race in Le Mans, made the first BMW Art Car an icon of not just the art world, but the motor racing world too. American Sam Posey and Frenchmen Jean Guichet and Herve Poulain drove the art-on-wheels BMW, the first and only time which it took part in a race. After seven hours, the car had to retire due to a damaged driveshaft and has been on display ever since.

The world’s first BMW Art Car was also one of Calder’s last creations, he died soon after it was unveiled at the age of 78.

1977 saw the release of BMW Art Car number three, created by Roy Lichtenstein which has gone on to be one of the most popular of all the Art Cars created. The BMW 320i Group 5 was transformed by the US pop artist who captured all his trademark methods into the race car.

Lichtenstein is considered to be one of the pioneers of the American pop art movement of the 1950s and ‘60s. He is most known for his use of Ben-Day dots, comic book like designs and anguished heroines which feature prominently in his earlier works. His most influential pieces including Drowning Girl, Look Mickey and Wham!

These styles and techniques which put Lichtenstein on the map were transferred to his styling of the Art Car. From the long-drawn coloured strips which act as speed lines – a feature used in comics to show fast movement.

When interviewed about his creation, Lichtenstein could still remember vividly how he produced the design for it back in 1977.

“I wanted to use painted lines as a road, pointing the way for the car. The design also shows the countryside through which the car has travelled. One could call it an enumeration of everything a car experiences – only that this car reflects all of these things before actually having been on a road."

After its reveal, Lichtenstein’s BMW Art Car hit the track for the Le Mans 24-Hour. It was driven by the Frenchmen Herve Poulain and Marcel Mignot who finished ninth overall and first in class.

One name that instantly comes to mind with the Art Car series is Andy Warhol, the world-famous American pop art creator renowned for his bold colours and sweeping brushstrokes. These iconic stylings were brought to life on the BMW M1, the fourth and best-known member of the BMW Art Car Collection.

Warhol began his artistic career as a commercial artist and was successful in holding his own exhibition in New York early in his career. His celebrity pop art portraits and paintings of trivial objects such as Campbell’s soup tins and Coca-Cola bottles as well as his own celebrity status became world-renowned.

The previous three artists who had created BMW Art Cars had first painted a draft version on a scale model which was then transferred to the actual car by assistants under their supervision. Warhol, however, was the first to paint everything himself with the help of an assistant. By transferring his ideas to the car spontaneously and directly, he could stamp his own character on it.

"I have tried to give a vivid depiction of speed. If a car is really fast, all contours and colours will become blurred". Warhol said when describing his design method.

The BMW M1 Art Car proved that a work of art can be not only spectacular but also a speed racer. In 1979, German race driver Manfred Winkelhock, together with Frenchmen Hervé Poulain and Marcel Mignot, raced the unique mid-engine sports car at Le Mans 24-hour classic to second place in its class and sixth overall.

Best known for his vivid paintings of all things Australiana (it was basically a national rite of passage in the ’80s and ’90s to wear a souvenir t-shirt with one of his designs on it), Ken Done became Australia’s first BMW Art Car artist.

Done held his first exhibition in Sydney in 1980 and soon became one of the most significant painters in Australian history. In 1988 he was commissioned to design Australia’s pavilion at World EXPO 88 in Brisbane as well creating artwork for the Sydney 2000 Olympics. His paintings feature vivid colours and brush strokes and a unique take on structures such as the Harbour Bridge and Opera House.

From the start of the project, Done knew exactly how the car should be designed. On the one hand, he wanted the paintwork to express some of the fascinations he held for performance cars while at the same time, is typically Australian. As the brightly finished car illustrates, Done decided to combine those to elements by using the exotic colours of parrots and parrot fish which he says share common characteristics with the BMW M3.

Unlike previous Art Cars, Done’s was not straight off the production line and already had an Aussie connection. It was the M3 that Jim Richards drove to victory in the Australian Group A Driver’s Championship in 1987. When the car was withdrawn from competition a year later, Done spent just three days in his Sydney studio transforming it into a hybrid of a parrotfish and an actual parrot.

Quite possibly the most Australian BMW of all time. In seven days, Australian indigenous artist Michael Nelson Tjakamarra transformed an ex-racing BMW M3 into a masterpiece of Papunya art.

Michael Nelson Tjakamarra was born in Pikili, Northern Territory, in 1949, and is a member of the Warlpiri people. He learnt the ancient painting techniques used by his ancestors from his grandfather and developed a new style based on them. Since the ’80s, Tjakamarra has been considered the leading representative of the Papunya-Tula movement. His iconic works include Possum and Wallaby Dreaming the large mosaic which sits on the forecourt of Parliament House in Canberra as well as an 8-metre long canvas which hangs in the Sydney Opera House.

The BMW was transformed into a moving piece of Papunya art which embodies the religious myths of the Dreaming, passed on for thousands of years by generations of First Australians. The geometric shapes and patterns appear deceptively abstract but those familiar with Australian mythology will recognise kangaroos, emus, ants and possums.

The M3 designed by Tjakamarra, like Ken Done’s was an ex-racing car from BMW Australia. The BMW M3 was driven to victory in 1987 by Tony Longhurst in the Australian AMSCAR Championship and was also driven by Australian racing legend Peter Brock.

David Hockney literally turned his BMW Art Car inside out, applying his world-renowned style and design, making the car transparent through a unique viewpoint.

"BMW gave me a model of the car and I looked at it time and time again", said Hockney, commenting on the process of creating the Art Car. "Finally, I thought it would be a good idea to show the car as if one could see inside."

Hockney was born in England in 1937 and has been one of the most flamboyant and influential characters on the international art scene since the early '60s. He developed his own British style of pop art (which was a big American export during this period) and achieved great success. His work primarily focusses on people and their environment, perfect for a BMW Art Car.

Sticking with his inside-out approach, the BMW 850 CSi’s bonnet sports a stylised portrayal of the engine’s intake manifold, the driver is visible through the door, and a dachshund can be seen sitting on the back seat.

Hockney’s Art Car was destined for the museum halls and was never driven on the road or in a race.

When one of the world’s most celebrated conceptual artists expresses their desire to work on your project in passing in a magazine interview, you jump at it. That is what BMW did (seven years later mind you) with American artist Jeff Koons, who created the 17th Art Car.

Koons is mostly known for his work with sculptures depicting everyday objects, including balloon animals made out of stainless steel with mirror-finish surfaces. His work has been exhibited internationally and is in numerous public collections, including New York’s Guggenheim Museum, The Tate in London and the Art Gallery of New South Wales in Sydney.

For Koons’ transformation of the BMW M3 GT2, he collected images of race cars, related graphics, vibrant colours and imagery of speed and explosions.

"These race cars are like life, they are powerful and there is a lot of energy," said Koons. "You can participate with it, add to it and let yourself transcend with its energy. There is a lot of power under that hood and I want to let my ideas transcend with the car – it’s really to connect with that power."

The end result sees bright colours which look to evoke, motion and bursting energy. Graphics of debris were added to the side rear and back panels of the car to simulate power as well as graphic rings on the rear of the car to represent supersonic acceleration. Unlike previous art cars which were painted, Koons’ car was vinyl wrapped in his digitally made design.

After its world premiere on June 2, 2010, the car competed at Le Mans ten days later. Driven by Andy Priaulx, Dirk Müller and Dirk Werner, the car became an instant fan favourite for its design. Unfortunately, it struggled with technical problems and had to retire after only five hours of racing.

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