- All 20 BMW Art Cars gathered in one place for the first time.
- Free exhibition until 31 August 2026 at BMW Welt.
For the first time in history, all the BMW Art Cars are gathered in one place: with the exhibition “BMW ART CARS – 20 ARTISTS, 50 YEARS OF INNOVATION. TOGETHER AT BMW WELT”, BMW is presenting the complete series of “sculptures on wheels” in Munich until 31 August 2026, in honour of the collection’s 50th anniversary.
The BMW Art Car collection was launched in 1975: on the initiative of the French racing driver and art auctioneer Hervé Poulain and Jochen Neerpasch, then head of BMW Motorsport, the artist Alexander Calder designed a racing car.
With its iconic architecture and role as a meeting place, BMW Welt provides the ideal setting for the most comprehensive presentation to date of the BMW Art Car Collection in a space open to the public. Works by iconic artists such as Frank Stella, Roy Lichtenstein, Andy Warhol, Robert Rauschenberg, Esther Mahlangu, David Hockney, Jenny Holzer, Jeff Koons, Cao Fei and Julie Mehretu make the collection a vibrant panorama of the most important voices in modern and contemporary art. At the same time, these ‘sculptures on wheels’ – from the BMW 3.0 CSL to the BMW Z1, via the BMW M Hybrid V8 – offer a cross-section of BMW’s history of design and technology.
An exhibition journey through 50 years of BMW Art Car history
The exhibition takes visitors on a journey that begins with the most recent work and traces the collection’s origins. Right from the entrance area, introductory documentary videos bring to life the history and significance of the BMW Art Car Collection. The tour begins by focusing on two of the most recent additions to the collection: Julie Mehretu’s BMW Art Car No. 20 and John Baldessari’s BMW Art Car No. 19. Julie Mehretu’s BMW Art Car project illustrates that the series now extends far beyond the car itself: as well as creating her BMW M Hybrid V8, she co-founded the African Film and Media Arts Collective (AFMAC) alongside film producer and screenwriter Mehret Mandefro. The initiative supports artists and filmmakers from Africa and the diaspora; the first major exhibition is scheduled to open in December 2026 at the Zeitz MOCAA in Cape Town.
As the tour progresses, the exhibition in the auditorium unfolds as a chronological journey through the decades. A timeline on the walls, tracing back through time, frames the presentation and allows visitors to follow the evolution of the collection with the same clarity as the diverse artistic and technological contexts in which it was created. The exhibition concludes with the first BMW Art Cars displayed on a podium, with Alexander Calder’s BMW Art Car No. 1 – the starting point of the collection – taking centre stage. One of the highlights is Olafur Eliasson’s “BMW H2R Project” (BMW Art Car No. 16), situated on the east esplanade. BMW Welt is only the fourth venue in the world where this work of art—based on a hydrogen-powered prototype—has been publicly exhibited as a ‘frozen’ installation since its world premiere in 2007. Eliasson replaced the bodywork of the BMW H2R with a mesh-like structure made of reflective metal and coated it with several layers of frozen water. The entire structure weighs around two tonnes and is illuminated from within: a poetic reflection on sustainability.
BMW Art Car Collection
- Alexander Calder / BMW 3.0 CSL / 1975
- Frank Stella / BMW 3.0 CSL / 1976
- Roy Lichtenstein / BMW 320i Turbo / 1977
- Andy Warhol / BMW M1 / 1979
- Ernst Fuchs / BMW 635 CSi / 1982
- Robert Rauschenberg / BMW 635 CSi / 1986
- Michael Nelson Jagamara / BMW M3 Group A / 1989
- Ken Done / BMW M3 Group A / 1989
- Matazo Kayama / BMW 535i / 1990
- César 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
- Jeff Koons / BMW M3 GT2 / 2010
- Cao Fei / BMW M6 GT3 / 2017
- John Baldessari / BMW M6 GTLM / 2016
- Julie Mehretu / BMW M Hybrid V8 / 2024
Further information at:
BMW Welt
BMW Art Car Collection
Source: Club de Prensa de BMW GROUP