Back in 1975, US artist Alexander Calder did something unspeakable to a pristine BMW 3.0 CSL.
He covered it in paint. Lots of paint. Red, white, yellow and blue, arching over the car's angular bonnet and wheel arches, the body acting as a canvas for Calder's typical style of primary colours and bold shapes. So captivating were the final results of Calder's project that it spawned a unique chapter in BMW's history - it was the first of the Art Cars.
16 artists have followed in Calder's brush strokes since then, adding their own unique artistic style to iconic BMW's over the years.
To mark the 40th anniversary of the founding of the motoring collection, BMW has recalled each of its 17 Art Cars for a rolling international exhibition, starting in Hong Kong, before heading to New York, Miami and Shanghai.
Now this is the kind of modern art we can get behind.
(Images: BMW)
[Via: Carscoops]
Alexander Calder's BMW 3.0 CSL
1975
Frank Stella's BMW 3.0 CSL
1976
Roy Lichtenstein's BMW 320i Turbo
1977
Andy Warhol BMW M1 Group 4
1979
Ernst Fuchs' BMW 635 CSi
1982
Robert Rauschenberg's BMW 635 CSi
1986
Michael Nelson Jagamarra's BMW M3
1989
Ken Done's BMW M3 Group A
1989
Matazo Kayama's BMW 535i
1990
Cesar Manrique's BMW 730i
1990
A. R. Penc's BMW Z1
1991
Esther Mahlangu's BMW 525i
1991
Sandro Chia's BMW M3 GTR
1992
David Hockney 's BMW 850 CSi
1995
Jenny Holzer's BMW V12 LMR
1999
Olafur Eliasson's BMW H2R
2007
Jeff Koons' BMW M3 GT2
2010
