BMW's sublime Art Car collection hits the road

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