PressClub Global · Article.
"BMW ART CARS – 20 ARTISTS, 50 YEARS OF INNOVATION. REUNITED AT BMW WELT." Record exhibition of all BMW Art Cars: 29 July to 31 August 2026 at BMW Welt in Munich.
Tue May 05 14:00:00 CEST 2026 Press Release
For the first time ever, the entire BMW Art Car Collection will be reunited at home in Munich. Titled “BMW ART CARS – 20 ARTISTS, 50 YEARS OF INNOVATION. REUNITED AT BMW WELT”, the exhibition will present all 20 Art Cars together in one location for the first time, from 29 July to 31 August 2026. The opening ceremony will take place on 28 July. The exhibition within the iconic BMW Welt architecture brings together the “rolling sculptures” from Alexander Calder (1975) to Julie Mehretu (2024). A particular highlight is Olafur Eliasson's “BMW H2R Project”: based on a hydrogen prototype, this piece has only been displayed publicly three times as an installation in a special frozen-down environment since its world premiere in 2007. The exhibition marks the culmination of the BMW Art Car World Tour, which has been celebrating the 50th anniversary of the BMW Art Car Collection with a global exhibition programme in over 30 countries across five continents since March 2025.
Press Contact.
Christiane Pyka
BMW Group
Tel: +49-151-601-40139
send an e-mail
Author.
Christiane Pyka
BMW Group
Downloads.
Related Links.
Munich. For the first time ever, the entire BMW Art Car Collection will be reunited at home in Munich. Titled “BMW ART CARS – 20 ARTISTS, 50 YEARS OF INNOVATION. REUNITED AT BMW WELT”, the exhibition will present all 20 Art Cars together in one location for the first time, from 29 July to 31 August 2026. The opening ceremony will take place on 28 July. The exhibition within the iconic BMW Welt architecture brings together the “rolling sculptures” from Alexander Calder (1975) to Julie Mehretu (2024). A particular highlight is Olafur Eliasson's “BMW H2R Project”: based on a hydrogen prototype, this piece has only been displayed publicly three times as an installation in a special frozen-down environment since its world premiere in 2007. The exhibition marks the culmination of the BMW Art Car World Tour, which has been celebrating the 50th anniversary of the BMW Art Car Collection with a global exhibition programme in over 30 countries across five continents since March 2025.
“I am delighted that the BMW Art Car World Tour is ending here at BMW Welt. This exhibition enables our international visitors to experience the diversity of artistic approaches and technological developments over the last fifty years first-hand, and it reinforces BMW Welt’s role as a place of encounter,” says Sandra Wittemer, Head of BMW Welt.
Spanning five decades, the retrospective at BMW Welt showcases artistic engagement with art, design, technology, innovation, motor racing and engineering. The BMW Art Car Collection started in 1975, when the French racing driver and art dealer Hervé Poulain collaborated with Jochen Neerpasch, then Head of BMW Motorsport, to invite the artist Alexander Calder to transform a racing car into a work of art. The result was a BMW 3.0 CSL that competed in the 1975 Le Mans 24-hour race and became an instant crowd favourite. Since then, the collection has grown to encompass 20 works, with contributions from renowned artists such as Frank Stella, Roy Lichtenstein, Andy Warhol, Robert Rauschenberg, Esther Mahlangu, David Hockney, Jenny Holzer, Jeff Koons, Cao Fei and Julie Mehretu. Each artist has brought their own unique vision and style to the project.
“BMW ART CARS – 20 ARTISTS, 50 YEARS OF INNOVATION. REUNITED AT BMW WELT” brings together all of the “rolling sculptures” for the first time in a public exhibition space. Each Art Car tells the story of its creator's artistic vision, technological developments and the social context of the period in which it was created. The collection therefore also provides a cross-section of art history from the last five decades: Minimalism, Pop Art, Magical Realism, Abstraction, Conceptual Art and Digital Art are all represented.
Artist Julie Mehretu‘s project shows that a BMW Art Car can transcend the concept of the car as an object: She conceived her project on aBMW M Hybrid V8 (BMW Art Car #20, 2024) from the very beginning as multidimensional endeavour, co-founding the African Film and Media Arts Collective (AFMAC) with screenwriter/ film producer Mehret Mandefro. This initiative brought together artists and filmmakers from Africa and the diaspora for workshops led by international lead artists, exploring new forms of artistic practice and cultural dialogue. The final exhibition, “Turning Towards the Sun”, will be presented from 11 December 2026 to 15 August 2027 at the Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa in Cape Town.
BMW Art Car Collection at BMW Welt.
- Alexander Calder / BMW 3.0 CSL / 1975
- Frank Stella / BMW 3.0 CSL / 1976
- Roy Lichtenstein / BMW 320i Turbo / 1977
- Andy Warhol / BMW M1 / 1979
- Ernst Fuchs / BMW 635 CSi / 1982
- Robert Rauschenberg / BMW 635 CSi / 1986
- Michael Jagamara Nelson / BMW M3 Group A / 1989
- Ken Done / BMW M3 Group A / 1989
- Matazo Kayama / BMW 535i / 1990
- César Manrique / BMW 730i / 1990
- A.R. Penck / BMW Z1 / 1991
- Esther Mahlangu / BMW 525i / 1991
- Sandro Chia / BMW M3 GTR / 1992
- David Hockney / BMW 850 CSi / 1995
- Jenny Holzer / BMW V12 LMR / 1999
- Olafur Eliasson / BMW H2R / 2007
- Jeff Koons / BMW M3 GT2 / 2010
- Cao Fei / BMW M6 GT3 / 2017
- John Baldessari / BMW M6 GTLM / 2016
- Julie Mehretu / BMW M Hybrid V8 / 2024
The Art Car exhibition at BMW Welt marks the grand finale of the BMW Art Car World Tour, the largest exhibition project in the collection's history. To celebrate the 50th anniversary of the BMW Art Cars, an exhibition programme has been taking place worldwide across five continents since March 2025. Having stopped at 60 locations in more than 30 countries, the touring BMW Art Cars have already attracted over 2 million visitors to leading art fairs, museums, motorsport events, and cultural institutions. Highlights include: Art Basel Hong Kong, Art Dubai, Auto Shanghai, Le Mans 24 Hours and Le Mans Classic, Louwman Museum in The Hague, Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance and The Bridge in the USA, Contemporary Istanbul, Zoute Grand Prix in Belgium, ADI Design Museum in Milan, Rétromobile in Paris, RAD Art Fair in Bucharest, and Market Art Fair in Stockholm. Before the final exhibition in Munich, the BMW Art Car World Tour will make further stops at the Classic Car House in Copenhagen (until 21 June) and the Concorso d’Eleganza Villa d’Este on Lake Como (15–17 May).
General Information.
BMW ART CARS – 20 ARTISTS,
50 YEARS OF INNOVATION.
REUNITED AT BMW WELT.
Opening: 28 July 2026, 6:30 PM (by invitation)
Exhibition
period: 29 July–31 August 2026
Venue: BMW Welt (Auditorium), Am
Olympiapark 1, 80809 Munich
Opening hours: Monday–Sunday 09:00 AM–06:00 PM
BMW Welt Lifestyle & Accessory Shop: A range of products for fans of the BMW Art Cars will be available in the BMW Welt shop during the exhibition period. Alongside to the newly reissued publication "BMW Art Cars" (Hatje Cantz Verlag), visitors can look forward to a selection of BMW Art Car miniature models, among other items.
Further information at:
BMW Welt
BMW
Art Car Collection
The BMW Group's Cultural Engagement, with exclusive updates and deeper insights into its global initiatives can be followed on Instagram at @BMWGroupCulture.