Some automotive exhibitions are worth altering a travel itinerary to see. For anyone interested in the intersection of cars and contemporary art, BMW has just opened one of them in Munich.
For the first time since the BMW Art Car project began more than half a century ago, all 20 official BMW Art Cars have been assembled in one location.
“BMW Art Cars – 20 Artists, 50 Years of Innovation. Reunited at BMW Welt” runs from July 29 through August 31, 2026 at BMW Welt in Munich. Admission is free.
The exhibition brings together cars created by artists including Alexander Calder, Frank Stella, Roy Lichtenstein, Andy Warhol, Robert Rauschenberg, Esther Mahlangu, David Hockney, Jenny Holzer, Jeff Koons, Cao Fei and Julie Mehretu.
Beyond the names involved, the collection also provides an unusual tour through five decades of BMW history. The cars range from the 1970s BMW 3.0 CSL to the Z1 and 8 Series, with competition machinery including the M1, M3, V12 LMR and M6 GT3, before arriving at Julie Mehretu’s BMW M Hybrid V8 from 2024.
It all started with a race car.
French racing driver and art auctioneer Hervé Poulain approached American sculptor Alexander Calder about using a BMW as a canvas. Working with Jochen Neerpasch, then head of BMW Motorsport, the project resulted in Calder transforming a BMW 3.0 CSL for the 1975 24 Hours of Le Mans.
The car wasn’t intended to establish a collection.
“When we prepared the first automotive art installation with Alexander Calder for the 24-hour race at Le Mans, we assumed it would be a one-off event,” Neerpasch recalls.
It wasn’t.
Frank Stella followed with another 3.0 CSL in 1976. Roy Lichtenstein transformed a BMW 320i Turbo the following year, and in 1979 Andy Warhol famously painted a BMW M1 himself.
Unlike an art car intended simply for display, many of these early works remained competition cars. Calder’s CSL raced at Le Mans, as did several of the cars that followed. Warhol’s M1 finished sixth overall and second in class at Le Mans in 1979.
Over time, the project expanded beyond racing and into BMW’s road-car range. The collection includes everything from A.R. Penck’s BMW Z1 and David Hockney’s 850 CSi to Esther Mahlangu’s 525i.
The artists changed. So did the cars, artistic media and technology.
Jenny Holzer worked with a BMW V12 LMR in 1999. Jeff Koons used an M3 GT2 in 2010. Cao Fei’s 2017 M6 GT3 incorporated augmented and virtual reality, while Julie Mehretu used the surfaces of BMW’s M Hybrid V8 prototype for the 20th Art Car in 2024.
The Munich exhibition has been arranged to tell that story in reverse.
Visitors initially encounter the newest cars, beginning with Mehretu’s M Hybrid V8 and John Baldessari’s M6 GTLM. From there, the exhibition works backward through the decades with a timeline providing context for the artistic and technological changes surrounding each project.
The journey eventually reaches a podium occupied by the earliest Art Cars, with Calder’s 1975 3.0 CSL at the center.
One car, however, requires a rather different presentation.
Olafur Eliasson’s 2007 BMW H2R Project is being displayed outside on BMW Welt’s East forecourt. Rather than simply painting BMW’s experimental hydrogen-powered H2R, Eliasson removed its conventional bodywork and created a reflective metal mesh structure that is covered with multiple layers of frozen water and illuminated from within.
The completed installation weighs approximately two tonnes.
Its appearance in Munich is particularly significant. BMW Welt is only the fourth location where the complete frozen installation has been publicly presented since its 2007 premiere.
The exhibition also adds a digital layer for visitors who want more context than the displays themselves provide.
BMW Welt has created an Art Car Treasure Hunt accessed by scanning the cars. Visitors who scan five unlock a voucher that can be registered and redeemed for a refreshment at Cooper’s Garden.
A more comprehensive guide is available through the Artlas app. It includes information about all 20 cars, themed tours and additional text and audio background. Visitors can point their phones at individual cars to identify them and access information about the work.
The app also incorporates a curator-verified AI chat function for questions about the exhibition and supports 25 languages.
For travelers, the location makes the exhibition particularly easy to incorporate into a Munich visit.
BMW Welt sits immediately adjacent to the BMW Museum and across from BMW’s headquarters near Olympiapark. That means the Art Car exhibition can be combined with the permanent museum collection rather than requiring a separate trip across the city.
The timing requires more planning.
Unlike a typical museum exhibition lasting several months, all 20 Art Cars will remain together for only a little over four weeks. The exhibition closes August 31.
That short run is partly because the Munich gathering represents the conclusion of the BMW Art Car World Tour, which has taken elements of the collection to more than 30 countries as part of the project’s 50th anniversary.
BMW is also offering twice-daily 30-minute guided tours for visitors and small groups. English-language tours are scheduled for 2:30 p.m. throughout the exhibition, while German tours take place at 1:00 p.m. through August 14 and noon beginning August 15. Groups are limited to 15 participants.
The BMW Welt Lifestyle & Accessories Shop is also stocking a newly reprinted edition of the “BMW Art Cars” book during the exhibition, along with 1:43-scale models of the Alexander Calder and Roy Lichtenstein Art Cars. Selected pieces from Cao Fei’s Art Car Capsule Collection are also available.
Munich already makes considerable sense as an automotive destination. BMW Museum and BMW Welt sit together on one side of the city, while Motorworld München offers another automotive stop to the north.
Until August 31, there’s an additional reason to make the trip.
The BMW Art Cars have spent 50 years moving between racetracks, museums, exhibitions and private events around the world. Seeing a Warhol M1 or Calder CSL individually is hardly commonplace.
Seeing every official BMW Art Car together has never been possible before.
For one month in Munich, it is.
Useful Information
Exhibition: BMW Art Cars – 20 Artists, 50 Years of Innovation. Reunited at BMW Welt
Location: BMW Welt, Auditorium and East Forecourt
Address: Am Olympiapark 1, 80809 Munich, Germany
Dates: July 29-August 31, 2026
Hours: Daily, 9:00 a.m.-6:00 p.m.
Admission: Free
Number of Art Cars: All 20 official BMW Art Cars
Special highlight: Olafur Eliasson’s BMW H2R Project, presented as its complete frozen installation for only the fourth time publicly
English guided tour: Daily at 2:30 p.m.
German guided tour: 1:00 p.m. through August 14; noon from August 15
Tour duration: Approximately 30 minutes
Maximum tour size: 15 people
Nearby: BMW Museum, BMW headquarters and Olympiapark are immediately adjacent or within easy walking distance.
Allow: Approximately 60-90 minutes specifically for the Art Car exhibition. Allow at least half a day if combining it with the BMW Museum and the rest of BMW Welt.
Best for: Automotive enthusiasts, contemporary art enthusiasts, BMW fans, families and anyone interested in design
Shop: BMW Art Cars book, selected 1:43 Art Car models and remaining items from the Cao Fei Art Car Capsule Collection are available during the exhibition.
Planning tip: Admission to the Art Car exhibition is free, but guided tours have limited capacity and should be booked ahead if they are an important part of your visit.
Worth knowing: The complete collection is together only through August 31, making this a substantially different experience from visiting BMW Museum after the anniversary exhibition ends.
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