This is the newest BMW Art Car, which will race Le Mans this June

By J.A. Ackley
May 22, 2024 | BMW, Le Mans, 24 Hours of Le Mans, BMW Art Car

Photography Courtesy BMW

BMW has developed a reputation for its Art Cars. It recently revealed its 20th one, and they plan to put the “performance” into “performance painting” by racing it in he 24 Hours of Le Mans.

The BMW M Hybrid V8 race car served as the canvas for New York-based artist Julie Mehretu. She used her 2021-2023 painting “Everwhen” as the starting point for the design on the race car. That work is currently on view at the Palazzo Grassi in Venice and become part of the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York.

“In the studio, where I had the model of the BMW M Hybrid V8, I was just sitting in front of the painting and I thought: ‘What would happen, if this car seemed to go through that painting and becomes affected by it?’” Mehretu said in a press release. “The idea was to make a remix, a mash-up of the painting. I kept seeing that painting kind of dripping into the car. Even the kidneys of the car inhaled the painting.”

The Art Car will compete in the 24 Hours of Le Mans with drivers Sheldon van der Linde, Robin Frijns and René Rast.

“The whole BMW Art Car project is about invention, about imagination, about pushing limits of what can be possible,” Mehretu said in a press release. “I don’t think of this car as something you would exhibit. I am thinking of it as something that will race in Le Mans. It’s a performative painting. My BMW Art Car was created in close collaboration with motorsport and engineering teams. The BMW Art Car is only completed once the race is over.”