It has now been about 100 years since an artist first turned a car into a work of art. French painter Sonia Delaunay-Terk decorated an Unic Tourer with geometrical shapes in 1920.
A century later, BMW is combining two of the most popular status symbols of the ultra-rich – art and cars – and has created a new luxury coupe in collaboration with United States-based artist Jeff Koons, who designed the car's opulent color concept, inside and out.
It's the latest in a long tradition of art on cars, and Americans have been embellishing their vehicles with flames and other decorations since the 1950s. At that time, other artists were being paid to create candid works on advertising vehicles and racing cars.
"The idea was to use the large surface of a vehicle as a communication platform and to enhance this surface with content," says Paolo Tumminelli, design professor at the technical university in Cologne.
In its latest form, the work of art on wheels appears to be selling itself as both status symbol and art investment. Like a car that has just driven out of a comic book, the Koons car from BMW is a multi-colored limited-edition coupe that doubles as a work of pop art by one of the world’s most sought-after artists.
BMW's special model of the M850i xDrive Gran Coupe, limited to 99 units, launched not at some horsepower parade car show, but at the Frieze art fair in Los Angeles.
Paintwork dominated by the colors blue, yellow and silver has been applied in a distinctly a comic-like style, while lines and geometric shapes adorn the body, interspersed with other design elements like the word "POP!", puffs of wind and a stylized explosion at the rear.
All in all, it’s a major break from the usual monotone greys, blacks and blues typically seen in cars from the likes of BMW.
BMW and the Art Car
Of course, this isn't BMW's first foray into the art world and for its first so-called Art Car in 1975, BMW engaged an already well-known artist to work on metal canvas.
Jochen Neerpasch, then head of motorsport, was informed in 1975 that art dealer and amateur racing driver Herve Poulain was looking for a vehicle as the subject for a new work of art. "When I learned that the American artist Alexander Calder wanted to design the car, I was immediately excited," says Neerpasch.
Although BMW Motorsport shifted their involvement to the U.S. after the first oil price crisis, they continued to compete in the 24-hour race at Le Mans.
"This gave rise to the idea of using a car as an art object. It was no longer the race result of the vehicle that was decisive for us, but participation alone as a presentation of the work of art," says Jochen Neerpasch. The only condition was that the artist had to deal thematically with the car and the 24-hour race.
BMW set aside a 3.0 CSL (E9), which was transformed into a rolling work of art for a race. BMW and Calder presented the car at the Louvre, and shortly afterwards it started at the Le Mans race.
"The connection between Calder, who was on site at the race, and the racing car was fascinating. That's why we decided to turn this chance project into a series," explains Jochen Neerpasch.
Lichtenstein, Banksy, Holzer
Although the term Art Cars is not protected, it has been associated with BMW ever since. Within the past few decades, 19 vehicles have been created that artists have freely designed.
These included: Roy Lichtenstein (1977, 320i), Andy Warhol (1979, M1) and Robert Rauschenberg (1986, 635 CSi), Esther Mahlangu (1991, 525i), David Hockney (1995, 850 CSi), Jenny Holzer (1999, V12 LMR), Jeff Koons (2010, M3GT2) and Olafur Eliasson (2007, H2R), John Baldessari (2016, M6 GTLM), Cao Fei (2017, M6 GT3) – all world-renowned artists.
Experts estimate the M1 designed by Warhol alone to be worth over 30 million euros (over $33.5 million) – if it were sold.
However, the individual pieces are in the BMW Museum and are only lent out for special exhibitions worldwide. Lately, BMW has allowed fans to see the Art Cars from all sides using the augmented reality app Acute Art.
Even today, the car maintains its image as an artist's canvas. The French artist Bernar Venet designed a Bugatti Veyron in 2012, Sir Peter Blake a Bentley Continental GT V8S in 2015.
Banksy, British street artist, spray-painted a Volvo truck in 2000, adding untold sums to the value of the truck at a 2019 auction.
And yet not every extravagantly painted car is a valuable work of art or a collector's item. Its important to distinguish between cars as a works of art from famous artist and cars with unusual paint jobs.
"Art Cars created by famous artists with an artistic claim are very valuable," says the managing director of the market analyst Classic Analytics, Frank Wilke. "The prices of Art Cars are measured by how the artists' other works are traded. Therefore, it is almost irrelevant which model it is."
The car ceases to be a car and becomes a sculpture.
A solid investment?
According to BMW, the exterior paintwork in eleven colors requires more than 200 hours of manual work to implement the artist's ideas on the car’s body. As a result, BMW can output no more than four cars in a week when works starts in March.
According to BMW boss Oliver Zipse, there has never been a BMW vehicle that has been created with such an extensive design effort as the Koons Coupe, which is officially called "The 8 X Jeff Koons."
Inside, there is a multi-colored and somewhat comical interior with seats in striking Spiderman shades of red and blue. Each car comes with a certificate signed by Koons and Zipse. Even the bezel of the cup holder has the artist's signature on it.
How much additional value BMW's new Koops coupe could come to appreciate over time is up to speculation, but car investment experts generally advise against buying models with unusual colors, as less neutral paintwork can make the car more difficult to sell on.
However, things might be different in the case of cars designed by Jeff Koons, whose works are some of the most expensive of any living artist.
Two years ago, his "Balloon Rabbit" sculpture was sold at auction in New York for just under $91.1 million. In light of this, the BMW Coupe at the price of 350,000 euros seems almost a bargain.