Inside BMW’s 2026 Art Cars Exhibition in Munich
Most autophiles welcome a bit of public gawping at the vehicle they’re driving at the traffic lights. But would they welcome the stares driving the wheels shown off at BMW‘s latest Art Cars exhibition would attract?
The idea of an art car dates back to the 1960s, when Janis Joplin and John Lennon transformed their Porsche 356 and Rolls-Royce Phantom V, respectively, with vividly psychedelic paintwork.
The concept gained wider prominence in 1975 when French racing driver and auctioneer Hervé Poulain invited his friend, the American sculptor Alexander Calder, to decorate the BMW 3.0 CSL he would drive in that year’s 24 Hours of Le Mans. Calder’s bold application of primary colors went down so well, BMW turned it into what is now their ongoing, much celebrated Art Car program, which has since seen the likes of Jenny Holzer, Julie Mehretu, Jeff Koons, David Hockney, Roy Lichtenstein, and Andy Warhol bring their distinctive visual language to the marque’s shells.
Andy Warhol’s Art Car.
The second BMW Art Car, created by Lichtenstein in 1977, was based on a BMW 320i Group 5 racing car, with the artist using dots and speed lines reminiscent of his own comic strip-style. Two years later, Warhol transformed a BMW M1 Group 4 racing car, applying vivid colors and sweeping brushstrokes in acrylic paint directly onto the bodywork.
Other notable creations include Hockney’s playful take on an x-ray effect in a 1995 BMW 850 CSi, and Holzer’s 1999 BMW V12 LMR, which featured her trademark text-based artwork applied to the Le Mans prototype that had won the race that same year.
Running from July 29 to August 31 at the BMW Welt in Munich, the exhibition will present all 20 Art Cars together in one location for the first time. As well as the above offerings from modern art luminaries, another particular highlight is Olafur Eliasson’s “BMW H2R Project.” Instead of painting an existing vehicle, Eliasson shrouded a hydrogen-powered racing car in steel mesh, mirror-coated stainless steel and several layers (thousands of liters) of ice—a nod to the relationship between car design and climate change.
The exhibition marks the culmination of the BMW Art Car World Tour, which has, since March 2025, been celebrating the 50th anniversary of the BMW Art Car Collection in more than 30 countries.
Click here to see more photos of the BMW Art Car exhibition.
