The BMW Artwork Automotive program is celebrating its fiftieth anniversary this yr, and its story has been advised many occasions. However when it comes straight from Jochen Neerpasch — the person who based BMW M, created BMW Motorsport, and greenlit the primary BMW Artwork Automotive — the story hits otherwise. We spoke with Joel Neerphen earlier this yr on the Rolex 24 at Daytona, the place he seemed again at how an concept that started virtually accidentally grew into one of the vital well-known intersections of artwork and motorsport.
The First BMW Artwork Automotive Wasn’t Deliberate
For anybody unfamiliar, the BMW Artwork Automotive collection is a set of race vehicles — and sometimes street vehicles — remodeled into rolling artistic endeavors by a number of the world’s most celebrated modern artists. These aren’t replicas or studio props. They’re actual machines which have competed in legendary occasions just like the 24 Hours of Le Mans, painted by names similar to Alexander Calder, Roy Lichtenstein, Andy WarholJenny Holzer, David Hockney, Jeff Koons, Esther Mahlangu, Olafur Eliasson, and Julie Mehretu.
Because the first one in 1975, every Artwork Automotive has been a singular collaboration between engineering and artistry — a canvas with a prime velocity, born for the monitor but destined for the museum.
A Telephone Name from Jean Todt
Neerpasch’s model of the origin story isn’t a refined company pitch. In his phrases, it began as a stroke of probability throughout a time when BMW was restricted in the place it may compete. “It occurred accidentally,” he recalled. “At the moment, we couldn’t race in Europe — solely in the USA. We wished to race in Le Mans, however we knew it will be robust.”
Then got here the decision that set issues in movement. Jean Todt — lengthy earlier than his Ferrari and FIA years — reached out to Neerpasch about an uncommon proposal. “He advised me there was an artwork seller in Paris who had a undertaking. He wished to run a automobile within the 24 Hours of Le Mans, painted by an artist. He had already requested ALPINA to do it, however they’d rejected the concept.” The artwork seller and racing driver was Hervé Poulain.
Most groups may need dismissed it, however Neerpasch noticed one thing extra. “I assumed it was a good suggestion — to not go to Le Mans purely as a motorsport occasion, however as an artwork occasion.”
Racing to Put together a Le Mans Entry
There was one main impediment: BMW’s racing group was based mostly in the USA, and there was no crew in Europe prepared to arrange a automobile for Le Mans. “However if you wish to, you all the time discover a method to do it,” Neerpasch stated. That “manner” produced the primary BMW Artwork Automotive — a 3.0 CSL painted by American artist Alexander Calder. Calder’s daring colours and flowing types turned the automobile right into a kinetic sculpture, standing out even within the frenetic surroundings of a 24-hour race.
From One-Off Experiment to Ongoing Legacy
After that debut, Neerpasch knew the idea had potential past a single outing. “After the primary yr, we determined to do extra Artwork Vehicles. The concept was to attach the artist not solely to the automobile but in addition to the occasion.” This method produced items like Roy Lichtenstein’s 1977 BMW 320i Group 5whose sweeping strains and vibrant gradients symbolized the street, the rising solar, and the expertise of racing via the French countryside at daybreak.
It wasn’t about simply portray a automobile — it was about capturing the spirit of endurance racing. And remarkably, not one of the artists took cost. “All of the artists after that didn’t take cash,” Neerpasch stated. “They only wished to do it.”
5 Many years, Twenty Vehicles, Limitless Tales
What began with Calder’s CSL now consists of 20 BMW Artwork Vehicles spanning minimalism, pop artwork, magical realism, abstraction, idea artwork, and digital artwork. They’ve been displayed in galleries, raced at Le Mans, and toured the world, every one representing a singular collaboration between an artist’s imaginative and prescient and BMW’s engineering.
And to suppose — all of it started with a telephone name, a rejected proposal, and a motorsport boss who was keen to take an opportunity on one thing unconventional.
Neerpasch’s story is a reminder that a number of the most enduring legacies in racing don’t begin with a strategic plan. They begin with a “why not?” and the willpower to make it occur.
BMW Artwork Vehicles Timeline (1975–2024)
- 1975 – Alexander Calder (USA) – BMW 3.0 CSL
- 1976 – Frank Stella (USA) – BMW 3.0 CSL
- 1977 – Roy Lichtenstein (USA) – BMW 320i Group 5 Race Model
- 1979 – Andy Warhol (USA) – BMW M1 Group 4 Race Model
- 1982 – Ernst Fuchs (Austria) – BMW 635 CSI
- 1986 – Robert Rauschenberg (USA) – BMW 635 CSI
- 1989 – Michael Jagamara Nelson (Australia) – BMW M3 Group A Race Model
- 1989 – Ken Completed (Australia) – BMW M3 Group A Race Model
- 1990 – Matazo Kayama (Japan) – BMW 535i
- 1990 – César Manrique (Spain) – BMW 730i
- 1991 – A.R. Penck (Germany) – BMW Z1
- 1991 – Esther Mahlangu (South Africa) – BMW 525i
- 1992 – Sandro Chia (Italy) – BMW 3-Collection Racing Touring Automotive Prototype
- 1995 – David Hockney (Nice Britain) – BMW 850CSi
- 1999 – Jenny Holzer (USA) – BMW V12 LMR
- 2007 – Olafur Eliasson (Denmark) – BMW H2R Hydrogen File Automotive (Your cellular expectations: BMW H2R undertaking)
- 2010 – Jeff Koons (USA) – BMW M3 GT2
- 2016 – Cao Fei (China) – BMW M6 GT3
- 2016 – John Baldessari (USA) – BMW M6 GTLM
- 2024 – Julie Mehretu (USA) – BMW M Hybrid V8
