Renowned American sculptor Alexander Calder was the first artist to put pen to paper in the effort to create an art car for BMW. Commissioned by racing driver Hervé Poulain, the original 3.0 CSL art car was little more than a used racing car by the time it reached Calder’s studio. That chassis would have likely been forgotten to time, as its racing exploits weren’t much to write home about. In Calder’s hands, however, it became etched upon the wall of automotive history, and kicked off a series of BMW art cars that continues to this day.
The 20th such BMW to get the artist’s touch will be the M Hybrid V8 prototype race car (above), and for this particular piece of art, Julie Mehretu’s gallery will be the 2024 running of the 24 Hours of Le Mans. BMW and Mehretu have not unveiled the final design, as we’ll have to wait until June for that.
In the meantime, I thought it would be a great idea to show you the other nineteen cars in the BMW art car lineup, and assign them a ranking. Maybe you’ll agree with me, or maybe you’ll want to rank them yourself in the comments section. Come what may, let’s journey through the history of these magnificent pieces of art together. Here’s my ranking:
