Of all automotive brands, BMW certainly has the closest and most authentic connection to the world of fine arts. While most manufacturers collaborate with visual artists as part of their advertising strategies to feed their social media streams and reach young urban target groups, the first BMW Art Car was not created by PR and marketing strategists, but a racing driver: Frenchman Hervé Poulain. He had the idea to transform the BMW 3.0 CSL he intended to race at the Le Mans 24 Hours into a (rather fast) canvas, so he approached BMW Motorsport’s frontman Jochen Neerpasch to get the official backing and commissioned his friend, the American sculptor Alexander Calder, to paint his car. Although Hervé Poulain did not finish the race, the bold and colourful pop-art livery caused waves beyond the car world and convinced BMW to kick off the art car series. Calder was followed by the biggest names of the art world – including Roy Lichtenstein, Andy Warhol, Jenny Holzer, David Hockney, Jeff Koons, Robert Rauschenberg, Olafur Eliasson and John Baldessari. Six of them raced at Le Mans. "I love this car. It's better than my artwork," Andy Warhol had said about his BMW Art Car number 4 in 1979. Last year, we followed the launch of the 20th BMW Art Car created by Julie Merehtu as it was raced at the 24 hours of Le Mans.
For 50 years, the BMW Group has offered artists a playground for their fascination with automobiles, creatively merging the worlds of art and design, technology and innovation, racing and engineering with their BMW Art Cars. In 2025, BMW will celebrate the 50th anniversary of the BMW Art Car Collection and the brand’s unparalleled cultural commitment (with over 100 initiatives annually in the fields of contemporary art, music, film, and design) with an exhibition program on all five continents with numerous accompanying events. Here’s an overview of the first confirmed dates and exhibitions, with more locations in Australia, Belgium, China, Germany, Kazakhstan, Latin America, Morocco, South Africa, Spain, Switzerland and the US being added to the tour along the way.
The BMW Art Car World Tour 2025
March 20 – 21, 2025 - SPARK Art Fair and MAK Museum Vienna, Austria
BMW Art Cars #3 Roy Lichtenstein, #4 Andy Warhol, #6 Robert
Rauschenberg, #14 David Hockney, #16 Jeff Koons
March 28-30, 2025 - Art Basel Hong Kong
BMW Art Car #20 Julie Mehretu
April 23 – May 5, 2025 - Shanghai Auto Show, China
BMW Art Car #20 Julie Mehretu
April 18-20, 2025 - Art Dubai, United Arab Emirates
BMW Art Car # TBA
May 2025 - 50 Years of BMW Schweiz, Zurich, Switzerland
BMW Art Cars #5 Ernst Fuchs, #8 Ken Done, #11 A.R. Penck, #14 David Hockney, #15 Jenny Holzer
May 9-11, 2025 - Taipei Dangdai, Taiwan
BMW Art Car # TBA
May 14 – June 1, 2025 - Bratislava, Slovakia
BMW Art Cars #2 Frank Stella, #7 Michael Jagamara Nelson, #9 Matazo Kayama
May 15-18, 2025 - Market Art Fair, Stockholm, Sweden
BMW Art Cars #1 Alexander Calder, #3 Roy Lichtenstein, #4 Andy Warhol, #17 Jeff Koons
May 23-25, 2025 - Concorso d’Eleganza Villa d’Este, Lake Como, Italy
BMW Art Car #13 Sandro Chia
June 16, 2025 – January 1, 2026 - BMW Museum, Munich, Germany
BMW Art Cars #7 Michael Jagamara Nelson, #8 Ken Done, #13 Sandro Chia
June 16 – August 31, 2025 - BMW Welt, Munich, Germany
BMW Art Cars #15 Jenny Holzer, #20 Julie Mehretu
June 27-29, 2025 - The Aurora, Båstad, Sweden
BMW Art Cars #1 Alexander Calder, #3 Roy Lichtenstein, #4 Andy Warhol, #17 Jeff Koons
July 3 – August 31, 2025 - Louwman Museum, Den Haag, The Netherlands
BMW Art Cars #1 Alexander Calder, #2 Frank Stella, #3 Roy Lichtenstein, #4 Andy Warhol, #10 César Manrique, #12 Esther Mahlangu, #14 David Hockney, #17 Jeff Koons
September 24-28, 2025 - Contemporary Istanbul, Turkey
BMW Art Cars #1 Alexander Calder, #20 Julie Mehretu
